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THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 
TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 



BY 



Jonn Horace Mariano, Ph. D. 

Department of Economics, ScKool of Business and Ci'Oic Administration 
*The College of the Ci{? of New York 



Widi an Introduction bj> 

Hon. F. H. La Guardia 




The Christopher Publishing House 
Boston, U. S. A. 






Copyright ig2i by 
The Christopher Publishing House 



APR -6 1921 
0)C!,A6U516 



/•-Va-v f 



PREFACE 

The author finds it impossible to list here by name all 
who have helped him in the preparation of this book. 
Such a list would be too long. There are several how- 
ever to whom he is especially indebted. These are Sal- 
vatore F. La Corte, Elizabeth, N. J., Professor Paul J. 
Salvatore, Stevens Institute of Technology, F. R. Serri, 
Francis Salzano and Anthony J. Armore, President of 
the Italian Intercollegiate Association. The last three 
named have given the manuscript the benefit of their 
searching criticism. 

The author is grateful to the Rev. Fenili and F. P. 
Buonora for valuable information regarding the dis- 
tribution of the Italian population of Brooklyn. Mrs. 
Deferrari-Weygandt, Principal of the Italian School, 
conducted the experiment described on page 36, after 
the author joined the army. The author wishes to ex- 
press here his deep thanks to the many officers and mem- 
bers alike who have so generously contributed to his 
information concerning both the organization and ac- 
tivities of their respective clubs herein described. 



INTRODUCTION 

The author has written a significant book. "The 
ItaHan Contribution to American Democracy" is not a 
study in Immigration as one might suppose. On the 
contrary, it is a study in Americanization. Dr. Mariano 
seeks to measure the rate of synthetization going on 
today between the native stock of older generations and 
the American of ItaHan extraction. 

In order to do this the author has made a survey of 
the sociological and economic conditions that exist today 
in the largest center of Italian blood in the Western 
hemisphere and perhaps the world. Dr. Mariano limits 
his interpretations to Americans of Italian extraction. 
The author suggests a complete new and American type 
with the second and subsequent generations. 

The author wisely points out the need of better hous- 
ing conditions and decides that the assimilation of immi- 
grants depends upon far better sanitary conditions that 
exist at present in most of the congested quarters of New 
York City. 

The symposium in the latter half of the book is a val- 
uable original contribution to the literature available to- 
day of the effect of Italian characteristics on the so-called 
"melting pot." As is natural, the points to be noted in 
this connection are the industry, skill and thrift of the 
Italians. It would not be far wrong to say that these 
qualities are what distinguish the first generations of all 
immigrant stocks that came to our shores. Next to 
these two traits the Latin trait of "buoyancy" is noted. 
The Italian's lightheartedness, bright smile and love of 
the artistic will be the qualities that the writer ventures 
will distinguish the second generation. Here is a real 
contribution indeed. It is something that America 
greatly lacks and it is the thing which the Italian has 
and will continue to contribute. 

Ill 



INTRODUCTION iv 

Dr. Mariano in emphasizing the need and value of a 
closer and sympathetic understanding of the individual 
traits and qualities that this type has to give has per- 
formed a distinct service and the book ought to be read 
and studied by all interested in social and public prob- 
lems particularly in the present time. 

F. H. LA GUARDIA 
President of the Board of Aldermen 
City of New York 



CONTENTS 

PART I — NATURE AND EXTENT OF INVESTIGATION 

Page 
CHAPTER I — Plan of Study 1 

Purpose : A Sociological study of Italian life in New 
York City. Scope : Limited to Americans of Italian ori- 
gin. Sources : A first hand study of the people them- 
selves. Original survey of types of organizations and 
institutions prevalent. Original data gained in a sym- 
posium. Statistical reports, government data, etc. 

CHAPTER II — Difficulties underlying an investigation of the 

Italian element 6 

Difficulty of collecting data : The adult Italian is un- 
trained and suspicious. Italian immigration : Its recency. 
Unsettled problems. Reasons for investigation. 



PART II — SURVEY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 

CHAPTER III ~ Population and Distribution 11 

Difficulty of accurate enumeration. Density. Distribu- 
tion of Italian colonies in New York City: Manhattan, 
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Richmond. Table of colonies 
in New York City: Age distribution. Sex classification. 
Conjugal relationship. Mixed marriages. Relationship 
between size of family and its place in the socio-eco- 
nomical scale. 

CHAPTER lY — Occupations 31 

Relation of Italian to other stocks in American indus- 
tries. Distribution of Italian blood in different indus- 
tries. Distribution in New York City. What the "new" 
generation hopes for. 

CHAPTER V — Health 37 

Introduction. Vital statistics. Italian health agencies. 

CHAPTER Yl — Standard of Living 45 

Introduction : Definition of terms. Changing standards. 
Incomes : Adult bread winners. Lodgers or boarders. 

V 



CONTENTS vi 

Child labor. Housing: Average number of rooms. 
Housing in relation to expenditure. Savings and thrift. 
Thrift compared with other nationalities. Estimated 
savings. 

CHAPTER Vn — Literacy 57 

The "old" versus the "new" generation. Status in the 
schools at large. In the high schools. In the primary 
schools. Elimination and retardation: at large. In 
New York City. The present need. 

CHAPTER VIII — Citizenship 65 

Obstacles to citizenship : Ignorance of language. Ten- 
dency to return to "homeland." Relation of immigrant 
to native vote. Citizenship status in New York City. 
Place of women of Italian blood. Differences between 
Italy and America. 

CHAPTER IK — Philanthropy and Social Welfare 71 

Introduction. Dependency. Delinquency. 

PART III — PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS 

CHAPTER X — Introduction — Basis for Classification of Types.... 82 
Difficulties of classification. Economic status. Pleas- 
ures or recreation. 

CHAPTER XI — The "Tenement" Type — An Ideo-Emotional Type 87 
Background: Physical; street, slums, tenement districts. 
Mental; subnormal. Vocational; varied and inter- 
mittent. Home conditions ; unsocial. Personal character- 
istics : Type of disposition; instigative, convivial. Co- 
operation : Perception of resemblances and of dififer- 
ences ; prompt. Attitude towards strangers; suspicion 
and distrust. Pleasures; motor-sensory. Type of mind; 
ideo-emotional. 

CHAPTER XII — The "Trade" or "Business" Type — A dogmatic- 
emotional type 97 

Background: Physical; shop or factory. Mental, varied. 
Vocational ; steady and skilled labor. Home conditions ; 
narrowing and un-American. Personal characteristics : 
Type of disposition ; domineering, austere. Coopera- 
tion ; Perception of resemblances and of differences ; 
keen. Attitude towards strangers ; unfriendliness. 
Pleasures; emotional ideation. Type of mind; dogma- 
tic-emotional. 



vii CONTENTS 

^CHAPTER XIII — The "College" Type— A transitionol type 103 P" 

Background: Physical; typically American. Mental; 
formal discipline. Vocational; undetermined. Home 
conditions ; varied. Personal characteristics : aggres- 
sive and convivial. Cooperation; Perception of resem- 
blances and of differences ; none on racial grounds. At- 
titude tow^ard strangers; open and frank. Pleasures; in- 
ductive ideation. Type of mind; critical-intellectual. 

CHAPTER yilY—The "ProfessionaV Type— A critical-intel- 
lectual type 110 

Background: Physical; home and office. Mental; dic- 
tated by pleasure and vocation. Vocational; profes- 
sions, lav^r, medicine, teaching. Home conditions; nor- 
mal Americans. Personal characteristics: Type of dis- 
position ; creative. Cooperation : Perception of resem- 
blances and differences ; none on racial grounds. Atti- 
tude toward strangers; broad. Pleasures; dictated by 
choice. Type of mind; critical-intellectual. 

'-- CHAPTER XV — The Italian-speaking Colony in New York City..\\% 
The "old" generation. The "new" generation. Relation 
between the "old" and the "new" generation. 

- CHAPTER XYI — Recapitulation 132 



PART IV — SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 

CHAPTER XVII — Introduction 138 

Definition of terms: Basis of classification; Overlapping 
character of aims. Correspondence between "mental" 
type of mind and character of organization effected. 

CHAPTER XVIll — Types of Organisation 140 

The Social Club: Particular group; the "Husky" Asso- 
ciation. Type of member; the "tenement" type, ages, 
21-35; education, elementary; vocations, physical labor; 
pleasures, sensory. Type of activity; recreational, 
social. Relation and effect of "social" club to commun- 
ity, anti-social. The "Athletic" Club: Particular group; 
the "Nameoka" Athletic club. Type of member; the 
type. Ages, 18-35; education, elementary and high 
school; vocations, physical and mental; pleasures, 
motor-sensory. Type of activity; recreational and phy- 
sical. Relation and effect of "Athletic" club to com- 
munity; unsocial. The "Religious" Club: (a) The "Cath- 



CONTENTS viii 

oHc" Club: Particular group; The "Ozanam" associa- 
tion. Type of members; ideo-emotional. Ages, 18-30; 
education, elementary and high school ; vocations, 
skilled and unskilled; pleasures, of sense, idea, and 
emotion. Type of activity; social, recreational, spirit- 
ual, (b) The "Protestant" Club : Particular group ; The 
Broome Street Tabernacle club. Type of members ; 
Ages, 18-30; education, elementary and high school; vo- 
cations, skilled and unskilled ; pleasures, of sense, idea, 
and emotion. Type of activity; social, recreational, 
spiritual. Relation and effect of "religious" club to 
community; friendly, sympathetic, social. The "Benev- 
olent" organization. Particular group ; The Bagolino 
Benefit Society. Type of members ; dogmatic-emo- 
tional. Ages, 18-45; education, elementary; vocations, 
skilled, unskilled, professions; pleasures, of sense, emo- 
tion and thought. Type of activity; social, physical, 
ideational. Relation and effect of "Civic" association 
to community; social. The "Social Welfare" League: 
Particular group ; The League for Social Service. The 
Italian Welfare League. The Young Men's Italian Edu- 
cational League. The Italian Educational League. Type 
of mmbers ; critical-intellectual. Ages, 18-50; education, 
college and university; vocations, professions; pleas- 
ures, of thought. Relation and eflfect of "Social" Wel- 
fare" League to community; social. The "College" Cir- 
colo: Particular group; The Columbia Circolo. Type of 
members; critical-intellectual. Ages, 19-28; education, 
college and university; vocations, undetermined; pleas- 
ures, of sense, emotion, and thought. Type of activity; 
social, ideational. Relation and effect of "College Cir- 
colo" to community; friendly and social. The Profes- 
sional" Club: Particular group; The Italian Teachers' 
Association. The Italian Lawyers' Association. The 
Societa Medica Italiana. The Circolo Nazionale. Type 
of members; critical-intellectual. Ages, 26-60; educa- 
tion, college and university; vocation, professions; 
pleasures, of thought. Type of activity; social, profes- 
sional, ideational. Relation and effect of "Professional" 
club to community; unrelated. 

CHAPTER XIX — Miscellaneous Organisations 182 

Dramatic; The Marionette Theatre. Musical; The In- 
ternational Festival Chorus (Italian division). Educa- 
tional; Verdi, Auxiliary, Italian Intercollegiate, Italian 
Scholarship Fund, Dante Alighieri Society, Dante 
League of America. Fraternal; Alpha Phi Delta, Sigma 
Phi Theta, Delta Omega Phi. Social Welfare; The Ital- 



CONTENTS 

ica Gens. Recreational ; The Italian American Scout- 
craft Association. Arts and Industry; Suola Italiana 
d'Industrie, The Italian Industrial School, Society for 
Italian Women. Propaganda ; The Roman Legion of 
America, The Italy-America Society, The Italian Bureau 
of Public Information. 



PART V — WHAT THE AMERICAN OF ITALIAN 

EXTRACTION CONTRIBUTES TO AMERICAN 

DEMOCRACY 

CHAPTER XX — Introduction 205 

Reasons for phrase "Americans of Italian extraction." 
Definition of Democracy. 

CHAPTER XXI — OW Ideas Regarding Italians 209 

Incomplete knowledge regarding Italians. Type of 
Italian that comes to America. Recency of Italian Im- 
migration. Friction and misunderstanding due to mal- 
adjustment; lack of proper sociological milieu. 

CHAPTER XXU — The Present Viewpoint 213 

Practical demonstrations of leadership and initiative 
visible today along agricultural, industrial, and pro- 
fessional pursuits. Practical experience of social econ- 
omists and social workers regarding their qualities of 
cooperation. Testimony of "Political Leaders" regard- 
ing their place in our American Democracy. Theoret- 
ical findings ; Genetic psychologists, Anthropologists, 
Sociologists. Conclusion. 

CHAPTER XXIII — ^ Socio-Ethnic Problem 229 

The problem stated ; synthetization with other racial 
strains in America. 

CHAPTER XXIV — Does This Type Contribute to American 

Democracy? 233 

He is easily assimilable. He is himself creative. He 
is fertile and facile with respect to both imitaton and 
initiation. He is intelligent and can become delibera- 
tive and rational. He is law-abiding. Ignores the in- 
stitutions of adults or parents that are purely Italian 
(their banks, newspapers, hospitals, societies, are un- 
satisfactory to him). Does not retain language, reli- 
gion, habits and ways of parents. His voluntary organ- 



CONTENTS X 

izations are of a reflection of Americanism and are 
largely tinged with American culture. Organizations 
created are various and cover every field. Where none 
exists the proficient American of Italian extraction has 
entered so fully into the life and spirit of America that 
none is needed. An absence of an organization does 
not show a lack of cooperation or ability to organize 
but that absorption has been complete. 

CHAPTER XXV — Symposium (looo questionnaires) 237 

What the American of Italian extration loses. What 
the American of Italian extraction gains. What the 
American of Italian extraction contributes. Statistical 
tables. 

CHAPTER XXVI — Some Positive Measures of Reform 284 

How to economically preserve the high powers of the 
raw immigrant and facilitate the process of synthetiza- 
tion. Abolition of "Padrone" system. Regulation and 
control of unemployment. Elimination of disease. Re- 
creation. Socially prepare for a more frictionless mix- 
ing. Different attitude of mind. Education. Politically 
distribute a greater share of executive leadership to 
such as are fit. 

CHAPTER XXYII — Conclusions 304 

General: This is a study in Americanization. The in- 
fluence of the community in determining types. Speci- 
fic : Sociological status of Americans of Italian extrac- 
tion in New York City. Their "contributions," "loses" 
and "gains." What the future has in store. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 311 



CHAPTER I 

NATURE AND EXTENT OF INVESTIGATION 

PURPOSE — What is there about the American of 
Italian extraction that distinguishes him from other 
Americans? Is there a real difference? The Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction that are studied here form one 
of the largest elements numerically in our population. 
Before any adequate understanding of them is to be 
had a thoroughly modern and scientific sociological sur- 
vey needs to be made with respect to their individual 
natures and their concerted or group reactions. 

The purpose of this study is to afford a sociological 
evaluation of the psychological traits and social organ- 
ization of this type of American, based upon a first hand 
investigation of the type in question. Personal experi- 
ence gained through a variety of contacts with these 
people, supplemented by information gained in interviev\'S 
with people who are closest to this problem afforded the 
bulk of the evidence analyzed. Where personal inter- 
views were out of the question, in many cases it was 
possible to get at the ideas that exist regarding these 
people by means of a questionnaire described in a later 
chapter. The information gathered from the above 
sources and elsewhere, as will be described later, is used 
to denote the sociological status of Americans of Italian 
extraction in New York City. These Americans, like 
the second generation of Americans of other racial 
stocks, form an integral part of our American popula- 
tion, distinct and apart from our immigrant population 
"per se." Whereas in the past in considering the status 
of the racial elements within our borders one's chief 
attention or interest centered upon a type that was either 
foreign or Americanized through the legal naturaliza- 
tion process, here the emphasis is to be placed upon a 
type that to begin with is AMERICAN. From a mere 
description, therefore, of types that have characterized 
studies of the past, we pass on to an attempt to analyze 
the character and measure the force of the contribution, 



2 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

if contribution there be, that these Americans of Italian 
blood make to our older American life, customs, and 
ways of doing things. 

The main purpose of this study, therefore, is, (1) to 
intelligently interpret Americans of Italian extraction 
to other Americans by pointing out what the fundamen- 
tal characteristics of this type of American are as re- 
flected through their social organization and other visi- 
ble activities ; (2) to interpret these activities from the 
standpoint of what we understand Americanism to mean 
and (3) to show what and how much this type of Amer- 
ican is contributing towards the solution of the prob- 
lem peculiar to America, namely, the synthetization of 
her composite population groups and the evolving of a 
stable American type. 

SCOPE — This study is limited to those Americans of 
Italian blood that were either born here or who came 
here when they were very young. It excludes the adult 
immigrant who as a rule, among the Italian stock at 
least, is so thoroughly ingrained with the traditions of 
the "homeland" that he himself is neither able to be 
affected in any very radical way through his contacts 
with our institutions nor to contribute creatively to our 
American Democracy. 

Likewise the activities described and evaluated here 
are limited to those whose origin and existence strictly 
depend upon such Americans as above indicated, and not 
upon the immigrant. 

For various reasons the writer has seen fit to limit 
this study to Americans of Italian extraction domiciled 
on Manhattan Island and in its immediate environs i. e. 
parts of what are known as and make up the "Greater 
City," viz : Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Richmond. 

The reasons for this limitation are obvious. First 
for purely physical reasons it has been impossible to 
subject to the same uniform scrutiny and thoroughness 
of investigation the dense colonies of individuals similar 
in descent and located at such diverse places as Newiark, 
San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, etc. ; 
second, the problem of investigating this type is nowhere 
so pressing as it is here (more individuals, taking both 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 3 

our type in question and their immediate parents, live 
here than in Naples, the largest city of Italy) ; third, 
practically every socio-economic problem that exists 
elsewhere among these people is duplicated here ; fourth, 
the opportunity for making comparisons with other races 
exists here in the most marked degree ; fifth, the nature 
of the "milieu" or human nature stuflf in and among 
which this American is reacting, is in itself a potent fac- 
tor in determining the nature of his reactions, and there- 
fore not only numbers, but diversity of races is a fac- 
tor to be considered ; sixth, the numerical factor involved 
in making a study in New York City rather than else- 
where is a happy one, in that we have a more just basis 
for making deductions ; lastly. New York City combines 
in its outlying districts, namely in Queens and Staten 
Island, the looser and more spread out or sparsely set- 
tled character of the colonies composed of Americans 
of Italian extraction existing elsewhere. 

The method used in this survey will vary. Wherever 
possible, the statistical method will be employed. By 
means of statistical data, an attempt will be made to 
point out, quantitative measurements permitting, the 
numbers of these people and their sociological position 
in the community. These will be evaluated sociologically 
in the light of comparisons made with the products of 
other racial stocks. For instance, it is a fact often de- 
plored of the Italian stock that relief work among the 
Italians in New York City is largely dependent upon the 
initiative and leadership of persons other than those of 
Italian blood. An instance in point is the case of the 
numerous war relief societies that sprang up during the 
war and whose aim was to bring succor to the Italian 
portion of our war's destitute. To a casual observer, 
such a condition among a people numbering easily the 
third or fourth largest element in our population might 
mistakenly betray a lack either of leadership or of the 
power of cooperation, and as such it has not infre- 
quently been characterized. It more truly instances, 
however, the uniform lack of great financial men of 
Italian extraction in New York City. As evidence of this 
witness the names Morgan, Davison and Lamont — all 



4 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

prominent in charity work among Italian speaking peo- 
ple here. 

On the basis of the figures shown in the numerous 
tables throughout, and the comparisons that these tables 
afford, some deductions regarding the value of the type 
under surveillance will be attempted. It will be noticed 
that our method is not primarily that of an intensive 
study of individual cases ; but rather, an extensive study 
of the larger sociological relationships has been the end 
held in view throughout. Where so many are concerned 
one would get nowhere if the former method were tried. 
In fact, there are plenty of institutions where such stud- 
ies can better be made. In this way only was it possible 
to get a perspective of the tendency towards which the 
type is gravitating, and to distinguish the subtypes and 
varieties into which, as all indications point, the Italian 
strain is beginning to ramify, just as the older German, 
Scotch-Irish, and English did some decades ago. 

SOURCES — The sources for the interpretations set 
forth are mainly gathered from a first hand study of the 
people in question themselves, gained by the writer 
through a constant and intimate contact as one of them 
in their play, school, and work. Back of this similarity 
of origin and supplementing this original contact lies the 
writer's experience, extending throughout five years as 
a social worker for the Children's Aid Society of this 
city, and as "Special National Field Scout Commissioner" 
with the Boy Scouts of America, permitting him to do 
organizing and executive work among Italian colonies 
all over the United States. These afforded an unparal- 
leled opportunity for studying the nature of the various 
kinds of organizations effected by these people as well 
as for observing practically all of their other activities. 

The writer's position made it possible for him to come 
in contact with and interview many of the most promi- 
nent Americans of Italian blood in New York City who 
are today actually engaged in mastering this problem 
of social interpretation and their testimony forms a sub- 
stantial part of this study. Relative to this problem, it 
has been deemed advisable also to insert statements of 
Italians who are in our midst, causing to stand out 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 5 

clearer by way of contrast, the information gained from 
those who, remaining essentially Italian in their 
thoughts, actions, and speech, are looking at American- 
ization from another angle. 

Lastly, the views of representative Americans of other 
ancestry than Italian, whose work or studies make their 
ideas valuable, are utilized, and, some of them have ex- 
pressed themselves upon a concrete phase of these peo- 
ple's activities. Many such Americans have spent their 
lives in a devoted service to the welfare and uplift of 
Italians, and the representative character of their of- 
fices can be fairly assumed to insure the widest latitude 
for fairness and disinterestedness in their expressions. 
All these facts are incorporated in the questionnaire de- 
veloped on pages 238 to Z72> inclusive. 

The writer has also not failed to supplement his per- 
sonal experience with a prolific use of the statistical 
records compiled by government officials, the publications 
of the Census Bureau, reports from social welfare and 
Americanizing agencies. In all cases where such data 
have been used, credit has been given and the source 
duly recorded. 



THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 



CHAPTER II 

DIFFICULTIES UNDERLYING AN INVESTIGATION OF 
THE ITALIAN ELEMENT 

DIFFICULTY OF COLLECTING DATA— The adult 
Italian is untrained and natively suspicious and yet be- 
fore one can fairly or adequately interpret this rising 
generation of Americans it is absolutely essential that 
the observer know something of the individual type from 
which he sprang. One must become familiar with the 
conditions that beset this problem and make it distinc- 
tive. Collecting information from the "untutored" is not 
without its own difficulties. 

The majority of Italian immigrants who seek our 
shores are driven here by stern economic necessity.* The 
hope of securing a better livelihood, the desire for the 
greater individual liberty that comes from added leisure, 
and, with some, the anticipated savings which will make 
it possible for them to return and live out their remain- 
ing years in the "homeland" in comparative opulence in 
return for the hazards undertaken — formed in the past 
as in the present the greatest of impelling motives. How 
closely related to the phenomenon of immigration was 
the pressure of the population upon the means of sub- 
sistence in Italy is shown by the Italian census in 1881 
when the population was 257 to the square mile, and two 
decades or twenty years later when in spite of the great 
annual afflux to both North and South America this den- 
sity had increased to 294 per square mile. 

* "Italy even today is in the unique position of seeing her 
population increase with the going on of war. This apparent 
paradox is easily explained if one remembers that several hun- 
dreds of thousands of Italians returned from abroad to serve 
under her colors ; and that had it not been for the war Italy 
would have lost by emigration about half a million men and 
women each year for the past four years. The war by prevent- 
ing emigration has kept all that population at home thus in- 
creasing Italy's population at a rate far greater than in time 
of peace in spite of the war losses," (Statement by Dr. Felice 
Ferrero, Director, Italian Bureau for Public Information, Sat- 
urday Post, July 20, 1918.) 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 7 

On the whole the class of Italians that comes here rep- 
resents the element lowest in the socio-economic scale 
that Italy possesses. This is to say that the stratum of 
Italian life in which the margin of economic subsistence 
has followed most closely and pressed most heavily upon 
the margin of possible economic resistance, has been the 
class that has poured its legions into our midst. Such 
people have had little opportunity in life, are untrained 
and as a rule, offer less intelligent contact to one gath- 
ering data than would otherwise be the case. Their sus- 
picion and distrust make it difficult to secure reliable in- 
formation. 

RECENCY OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION— Another 
consideration is the comparative recency of Italian im- 
migration. Emigration from Southeastern Europe be- 
gan about 1880 and is the most recent of the great emi- 
gration movements from the continent to our shores. 
The Italian makes up a large portion of this newest wave 
of immigration and at the outbreak of the war in 1914 
represented the country that sent over the greatest 
number. 

With the immigrant the chief problem is to secure a 
position ; his next is to see to it that it is permanent. 
Arthur Train says in speaking of the Italian immigration 
movement to this country "it would take a generation 
for these people of the old world to get out of their sys- 
tems the tradition that in some ways they are bound to 
the soil where they serve and cannot leave it ; a genera- 
tion for them to realize that they are free to come and 
go and to take part in the activities, political and other- 
wise of the nation at large. Herein lies the difference 
between the old imimigrant, the adult Italian,'^ the man 
who seeks refuge in America for his declining years and 
the boy of twelve, fifteen or eighteen the American of Italian 
extraction** who has life all before ihim. The older man is 
set in his ideas. This is shown in New York City in the 
Genoese districts where the grandfather who came to 
this country took up his abode and where he still lives." 
Such an individual rarely hopes for much else. Leader- 

* Italics are ours. 
** ditto 



8 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

ship, if it be there, is largely confined to work in the 
Italian community and such individuals become semi- 
patriarchal potentates giving advice, alleviating suffer- 
ing and even dispensing justice. Cooperation is invaria- 
bly confined to others who have come over from Italy 
with them and from the same town. The radius of their 
circle of cooperation is practically zero when Americans 
of other stocks are concerned. Their own internal co- 
operation serves to set them off as a group apart and 
they act as a community within a community. This holds 
true for all nationalities and is a psychical not a racial 
characteristic. This exclusive character of adult Italian 
life therefore offers great difficulty to outsiders gather- 
ing data, and information which on the surface of things 
appears reliable may easily lead to gross errors in inter- 
pretation. Differences in dialects, customs, habits of life, 
in some instances represent wide cleavages ; in other in- 
stances such differences are more apparent than real. 

NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ITALIAN — By far 
the majority of the immigrants from Italy have come 
from its southern districts ; few from the north. One can- 
not fail to be impressed with the wide differences that 
exist educationally and socially between the North and 
South Italian. These differences however are not inher- 
ent in the type but reflect the better economic advantages 
that North Italy affords. 

It is not surprising therefore to find these people men- 
tally lowest in the scale of culture among immigrants 
that come to our shores. Some years ago when, with a 
million or more of immigrants pouring into our midst, 
the problem had become acutest, statistics showed that 
seventy percent of the immigrants from southern Italy 
v/ere illiterate. 

The great disparity in mental and material cultures 
between the northern and the southern adult Italian im- 
migrant is reduced to a nullity in the case of their off- 
spring, showing the powerful levelling influence of 
American democracy and systems of education. 

UNSETTLED PROBLEMS — Interested as we are in 
ascertaining what the value of the descendants of these 
people is in our democracy, we shall try to center our 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 9 

attention upon several facts that in a democracy are of 
the greatest moment. First with respect to the question 
of "leadership." On the basis of the activities disclosed in 
the section on Social Organization with reference parti- 
cularly to New York City, we are to raise the question, 
"Is the American of Italian extraction deficient with re- 
spect to the qualities that make for leadership?" So 
many people say that if an undertaking centering chiefly 
upon matters that affect the Italian is to be successful it 
must be organized and managed by others than those of 
Italian blood ! Equally serious is the charge that a lack 
of cooperation exists among these people and that their 
relative disorganization is shown in the variegated sec- 
tions within the Italian colony itself where on one street 
lives a type that has customs and habits entirely distinct 
from the customs and habits of those occupying the next 
street. "Is this lack of cooperation more apparent than 
real?" Finally and most important we are interested in 
knowing if what the American of Italian extraction 
brings to us is a pro rata share towards the creation of 
the type of mind and character of institution that we 
can label as being distinctively AMERICAN. 

It is not expected that questions such as those above 
will be settled by this study. It is sufficient, if by rais- 
ing these issues, it will become more apparent than was 
hitherto true, that a great deal of the internal racial 
problems of America are due to SOCIAL MAL-AD- 
JUSTMENTS in immigrant localities rather than to 
any inherent defect of mental traits — thus raising a prob- 
lem, essentially sociological rather than psychological, 
for the future to solve. 

REASONS FOR INVESTIGATION— One may ask 
for the reasons of a study of this kind. There are many 
reasons why a study of this description is useful. The 
chief one is a lack of definite sociological data regard- 
ing the second generation of Americans of Italian ori- 
gin. Equally important is such a study because as the 
writer believes, with the detailed sociological and psy- 
chological study of racial groups such as this is, there 
will be less of that forwardness on the part of some 
individuals to assert superiority for any one group. It 



10 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

will more clearly be seen how much is due to opportunity 
and environment and how little to race superiority, if 
such a thing exist at all. Again, with regard to the pro- 
cess of Americanization, it is desired that chief attention 
be given to aspects of synthetization. 

Not unimportant also is this study in defining anew for 
us the term "democracy" and the help that such a study 
gives in reminding us of the need of keeping constantly 
in the foreground the fact that for us, as yet, democracy 
needs to be continually redefined ; that it is not a com- 
plete and finished thing but is being constantly moulded 
and shaped in accordance with our changing socio-po- 
litico-economic conditions. It can clearly be seen, there- 
fore, that such a study is of great value in increasing 
the means whereby we can rationally and intelligently 
direct our Americanizing movements, and is of inesti- 
mable importance in marking out a clear line between 
the old emphasis of the past, which was built chiefly 
around an alien, and the new, which aims to focus its 
fullest rays of light upon those individuals who, to be- 
gin with, are distinctly AMERICAN. Lastly, if we 
wish, we might read into this study, in so far as the Ital- 
ian strain is concerned, at any rate, something con- 
cerning the rate of success that our social institutions 
are meeting with in their endeavor to turn out normal 
Americans. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 11 

PART II 

SURVEY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 

CHAPTER III 

POPULATION AND DISTRIBUTION 

DIFFICULTIES OF ACCURATE ENUMERATION 
— It is difficult to ascertain with absolute accuracy the 
number of Americans of Italian extraction located in 
the greater city. The reason for this is that no organi- 
zation, social, educational, political or religious exists 
today which is sufficiently interested in collecting and 
keeping statistics of the type of American under con- 
sideration here apart from Americans of other racial 
stocks. 

If one were to attempt this task the ideal method 
would be a house to house canvass. The thousands of 
homes that would thus have to be canvassed make this 
impossible. Instead therefore, the figures of this pop- 
ulation under investigation are derived from other 
sources.* 

The only study ever made and bearing on this problem 
is not a recent one and many changes have occurred 
since to modify the findings then reported . As an ap- 
proximation tho it can still be instructive. In 1903 the 
Italian Chamber of Commerce decided to find out how 
many Italians were domiciled in both the City and the 
State of New York. 

* Since the war Italian immigration has become nil. Never- 
theless, the process of Americanization is still going on among 
those who have come here from Italy and among their de- 
scendents. As these latter people become more and more ma- 
ture, they move away from the settlement formerly inhabited 
and locate elsewhere. It is safe to say that nine out of every 
ten such individuals the moment it is possible for them to do 
so move out and locate elsewhere than in the original set- 
tlement of the parent, thereby mingling inextricably with' 
Americans of other extractions. Because of this fact and also 
because of a definite percentage who thru marriage become 
inseparably intermingled with other stocks any attempt to 
deal conclusively with the numbers of Americans of Italian 
blood in New York City is well-nigh futile. 



12 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

A committee was appointed of which Giovanni Bran- 
chi, then Consul General, was chairman. This commit- 
tee reported the following data : 

RESIDENT ITALIANS 
NEW YORK STATE NEW YORK CITY 

272,572 (pop. in 1900) 225,026 (pop. in 1900) 

18,322 (excess of births over 14,121 (excess of births over 

deaths) deaths) 

195,281 (excess of arrivals 143,628 (excess of arrivals 
over departures) over departures) 



486,175 (total 1903) 382,775 (total 1903) 

The large excess of births over deaths is testimony to 
the high vitality of the race while the high preponder- 
ance of male entrants as compared to females is an in- 
dication of the type's economic possibilities. 

Various other writers have at times attempted to cal- 
culate the distribution of Italian blood in New York City. 
Professor Willcox figured that in 1900 the Italian popu- 
lation in New York City was 145,433.* The last census 
in 1910 found 340,322 Italians residing here who had been 
born in Italy. A great many of these tho came here at a 
very early age ; to be exact 10.4% came to this country 
before their fourteenth birthday and therefore are eli- 
gible for inclusion in this study. Altogether in 1910 
there were 531,857 Italian speaking people domiciled in 
Greater New York from which those born in Italy, 
namely 340,322, are to be subtracted leaving us a total 
of 191,535 Americans of Italian extraction residing here 
for the year 1910. To this are to be added the subse- 
quent births for the ensuing years. These latter figures 
are 206,163 distributed by years, viz : 

NUMBER OF REPORTED BIRTHS OF ITALIAN PARENT- 
AGE IN NEW YORK CITY** 

1911—28,290 

1912—29,600 

1913—29,533 

1914—31,023 

1915—29,717 

1916—29,011 

1917—28,989 



Total— 206,163 
* Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 20, pp. 523-46 
**Thru courtesy of Dr. Wm. H. Guilfoy, Registrar of Records, 
Department of Health. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY i3 

From 1911 to 1917 one million seven thousand Italians 
entered this country but from this number the 801,792 
that returned are to be subtracted.* Of the 205,208 that 
remained only 24 per cent or 49,249 located in New York 
City. This last added to the 340,322 persons of foreign- 
born Italian stock here in 1910 raises the present popu- 
lation representing the older generation to 389,571. The 
deaths for the Italian strain since 1910 have averaged 
in any one representative year 10.24 per thousand popu- 
lation.** This permits us to deduct 27,923 and 28,504 
from the figures representing the older and the younger 
generations respectively, leaving a final grand total of 
730,842 Italian speaking people domiciled in New York 
City. These computations include both the adult Italian 
and his offspring the American of Italian extraction. In 
tabular ior\m these figures compared to the total popu- 
lation of the Greater City are : 

ITALIAN BLOOD IN POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY, 

1917 

Total Italian-speaking Population 



O 



h3 ^ ^ 

n S <^ 

o On 

H 0*3-."' 2 -."> 

O o n> o H. ^S o 2. 

>o r-^ -o ^ O^ tr ^ 

^ a 3 o S, o 

1880a 1,911,698 12,223b 6 x 

1890 2,507,414 74,687 3 40,190 2 

1900 3,437,202 145,429 4 74,168b 2.5 

1910 4,769,883 340,322 7 191,545 4 

1917 5,748,629c 361,648 6 369,194d 6 

a In 1850 the Italian portion of this country's population was 
so small as to be negligible amounting to but 0.2%. (Century 
of Pop. & Growth. Bur. of Census, p. 130) 

b Foerster, R. F. The Italian Emigration of Our Times, p. 325. 

c New York City Board of Health figures. 

d Computed from original data furnished thru kindness of Dr. 
Guilfoy. 

X Negligible owing to large percentage of early returns to 
homeland and scarcity of females. 



14 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

For the first and second generations of Italian blood 
alone the figures given below are arranged to include 
not as Italians but as Americans the 10.4 per cent of the 
entire Italian foreign born population of this city that 
entered who had not attained their fourteenth birthday. 
These individuals, notwithstanding their foreign birth, 
are for our purposes here classed as Americans of Ital- 
ian origin because the plastic state of both their minds 
and bodies will unquestionably render them extremely 
susceptible to American ideas and education. They rep- 
resent a type different from the adult Italian who is so 
ingrained with the traditions of the "homeland" that he 
himself is neither able to be affected in any very radical 
way by American conditions nor to contribute creatively 
to American democracy. Some of the biggest leaders 
of the second generation of Italians in New York City 
as well as some of the most promising material now at- 
tending our schools and universities are of this class. It 
it curious and interesting to note in this connection that 
the only two books intelligently written on the subject 
of Italians in America and recently published should be 
written by individuals of this type who having been born 
in Italy came here before their 14th birthday. Wm. P. 
Schriver and Dean George Hodges in writing the pre- 
faces for "Sons of Italy" by Antonio Mangano and "So- 
cial and Religious Life of Italians in America" by Henry 
C. Sartorio both make mention of this fact. 

Instead of tabulating the figures below as "first" and 
"second" generation it is more proper to label them as 
"Italian" and "American of Italian extraction." For the 
entire city the figures are : 

THE ITALIAN SPEAKING POPULATION OF NEW YORK 
CITY— 1917 

TYPE NUMBER PERCENT 

Italians 324,037 44.3 

Americans of Italian extraction 406,805 55.7 

TOTAL 730,842 100.0 

* Cornpiled from Annual Reports of Commissioner-General 
of Immigration. 

** Actual death rate for Italians in New York City in 1915. 
(vide, Guilfoy. Influence of Nationality upon Mortality of a 
Community, Monograph Series, 1917, No. 18, p. 26. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 15 

Other writers make tlie figures a little lower. An- 
tonio Mangano in a very excellent book referred to above 
figures that the Italians in New York City approximate 
600,000.* Others put it at 700,000.** The more recent 
writers accept this.f Corporation Counsel Burr before 
a recent meeting of the Academy of Political Science said 
that there were more Italians here than there were in 
Naples. If this ic so not only would the approximate 
figures of 700,000 be true but it would make of this city 
the greatest Italian center in the world. 

DENSITY — By density is meant the number of per- 
sons to each square mile of land area. No very recent 
figures exist for comparing the densities of the various 
racial groupings scattered thruout the city. Certainly, 
the Italian colony| located at Mulberry Bend Park is as 
densely populated as any other section of the city. Not 
very long ago it was found that the most densely popu- 
lated spot in the world was located somewhere in the 
section around 10th and 11th avenues, north of 34th 

* Published by the Missionary Education Movement, 156 
Fifth Avenue, New York City. (Mangano takes no account of 
the population increase since the last 1910 census). 

** World Outlook; Italian Number, October 1909. ed. Willard 
Price. 

t Train, Arthur, "Unhooking the Hyphen," Saturday Evening 
Post, August lOth, 1918. 

$One great difficulty universally experienced in w^ritings 
dealing with people of Italian blood is the haphazard and loose 
way in which the term Italian is used to designate individuals. 
If an individual's name ends with a vowel, he is classed as an 
Italian tho he may have come from stock that was born in this 
country, as is true particularly of a large group of Genoese 
located around the Five Points section in Mulberry Bend. 
Italians who have come from Italy and who have never been 
naturalized, Italians who after having lived here a greater 
or less number of years, have become naturalized and there- 
fore are Americans, and Americans born of Italian stock, and 
Americans born of Americanized Italians — all are promiscu- 
ously lumped together and dealt with as tho they were of a 
likv. class. Very often the gulf between them is wide. This 
stuoy thruout uses the terms "Italian," and "American of Ital- 
ian extraction," the two main types, very guardedly and de- 
precates the use of careless language with its consequent con- 
fusion, described above. 



16 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Street and south of 59th Street and that there were lo- 
cated in this section 11,000 persons to the acre.* 

The survey of the Federation of Churches, conducted 
in 1904 found the block bounded by Second and Third 
streets, Ave B to Ave. C (a Jewish block) to have 4,105 
residents and "this appears by a comparison of all the 
blocks of the Tenement House Report to be the largest 
population within four streets of Manhattan." Dr. Laid- 
law adds however that while it may be the most popu- 
lated it need not be the densest. f It is likely, however, 
that since then other sections have increased at a more 
rapid rate so that the most densely populated section of 
New York City lies elsewhere. The writer is inclined to 
believe that this distinction lies between the large Jew- 
ish colony located on such streets as Rivington, For- 
sythe and Eldridge and the Italian colony at Mulberry 
Bend, Bayard, Baxter, Elizabeth and Hester Streets, 
both of which sections have very many characteristics 
that are similar. 

Dr. Bushee found the density of population in the 
Italian quarter at the North End of Boston to average 
1.40 persons per sleeping room.** This was true in 1891 
but it has since increased 65%. The same condition exists 
among the Italian quarters in New York City. The only 
data we have regarding density in such quarters is fairly 
recent. In 1912 Dr. Antonio Stella made a study of 
housing conditions in the Italian quarters in the lower 
part of this city. His findings are both interesting and 
instructive. "The old seventh ward which contains a 
great part of the Italian population," he says, "has a 
density of 478 people per acre. This is greater than the 
density of the districts of Bethnal Green and Skelder- 
gate in London where the greatest density was found to 
be 365 and 349 people to the square acre respectively, 
and this Rowntree considered greater than that of any 
other city of Europe."*** Five separate investigations 

* Lectures by Prof. Franklin H. Giddings ; in Inductive So- 
ciology given at Columbia University in 1915. (It is to be added 
tho in this connection that accurate data regarding condi- 
tions in China and in India are not to be had). , 

t Federation, December, 1904. 

** Bushee, Prof. F. A. "Ethnic Factors in the Population of 
Boston" American Economic Ass'n. Third Series, 1903. 

*** Stella, Dr. Antonio ; La Lotta comtra La Tubercolosi f ra 
gli Italiaiii nella Citta di New York. p. 47 passim. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 17 

made at various points in this city are quoted here to 
point out the general character of over-population and 
unusual density among Italian speaking people. In cer- 
tain places on East 13th Street, a Sicilian district, Dr. 
Stella found that 1231 people lived in 120 rooms, an av- 
erage of ten people to a room, with less than 18 cubic 
meters of air for each individual.f 

In another section on Seventh Avenue, a Calabrian 
section, he found twenty rooms populated by eight fam- 
ilies totalling 42 people of whom 24 were children. Dr. 
Guilfoy found seven tenement houses populated by 1500 
people.* Block X of the old 14th Ward, Lord found to 
have the most unenviable distinction of being the most 
densely populated of Italian blocks he investigated and to 
contain the largest number of Italian families of Italian 
origin in the city. In this block 492 families were lodged 
in an area extending north from Prince Street between 
Mott and Elizabeth Streets. In one of these blocks 
alone, the so-called "Lung" block, were counted more 
than 4000 people, one quarter of whom were Americans 
of Italian extraction.** Lastly Chapin's study of con- 
ditions in New York City showed the Italians (disre- 
garding the Bohemians whose numbers are insignifi- 
cant) rivalled only by the Austrians in over-crowding, 
viz : $ 

OVER-CROWDING BY NATIONALITIES 
Total No. No. reporting more 

Nationality of Families 

United States 67 

Teutonic 39 

Irish 24 

Colored 28 

Bohemian 14 

Russian 57 

Austrian 32 

Italian 57 

TOTAL 318 

These findings if true point to the fact that perhaps 
in the Italian colony at Mulberry Bend Park there are 

t ibid. p. 48. 
* Medical Record, Jan. 5th, 1908. 
** Lord, Trenor and Barrows. The Italian in America. 
t Chapin, Robert C. The Standard of living in New York 
City, p. 81, 



than lyi persons 


Percent 


per room 




20 


30 


8 


21 


12 


50 


16 


57 


11 


79 


35 


61 


21 


65 


37 


65 


160 


50 



18 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

more individuals living per square acre than upon any 
other square acre that we know of in the world. Prof. 
Foerster's vivid description is both interesting and in- 
structive in this connection. $ New York City's total 
acreage is 201,659. With a population of five and one 
half million this would average a population of 22.31 
per square mile. Distributed by boroughs the figures 
of the citv's population fcK* all nationalities are :* 
density' OF POPULATION PER ACRE IN NEW YORK 

CITY 
Year N. Y. City Manhattan Bronx Brooklyn Queens Richmond 
1910 23.66 166.08 16.56 32.89 3.78 2.34 

While we see in the above the density per acre for 
the city at large is but 23.66, in the old Second Assembly 
district which is predominantly Italian it jumps to 170.4 
and in the old Sixth District to the astounding figures 
of 397.6,** pointing to a physical background for the 
t3'pe that we are studying that is highly abnormal. 

$ "Who that has sauntered thru these colonies can forget 
them? Who, since they are unique, can describe them? An 
ant hill is like them or a bee-hive — but too soon all analogies 
break down ! Where East Houston, Mott, Prince and Eliza- 
beth Streets come together in New York, making one block 
fairly long but very narrow, dwell 3500 people, 1100 to the 
acre. It disputes with few other blocks the dismal honor of 
being the most populous spot on earth. Its tenements rise 
four or five stories into the air but each story bursts, as if 
the inward pressure were too great, into a balcony. The 
street below is at once playground and place of business; one 
threads one's way betwixt pushcarts and stands, past little 
children and quite as little old women, whose black eyes scin- 
tillate above their bronzed Sicilian cheeks. Here doctor and 
mid-wife might make a living while scarcely leaving the block. 
(One child in nine dies before the age of five.) On each floor, 
as a rule, are four 'flats,' often of two rooms ; one room serv- 
ing as kitchen, dining-room, and general living room, the other 
as bed-room. 'There is not,' says a government report, 'a 
bath-tub in this solid block, unless there be some in the Chil- 
dren's Aid Society building, and only one family has a hot 
water range. In one of the buildings there are radiators in 
the hall, but the furnace has never been lighted in the recol- 
lection of the present tenants. All halls are cold and dirty the 
greater part of the time, and most of them are dark.' Neither 
bath-tub nor stove is an institution which these immigrants 
have known in Italy, but in America both climate and the 
perils of crowded living make their omission costly." (Taken 
from The Italian Emigration of Our Times, p. 382-3). 

* Pratt, Edward E. Industrial Causes of Congestion ;n Nevr 
York City, p. 28. 
** ibid p. 31. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 



19 



DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN COLONIES— Because 
as one writer puts it "no other nationality in New York 
City is so given to aggregation as the Italian" there 
is scarcely another nationality that so thoroughly 
stamps as foreign the district it occupies. Never- 
theless in with the Italians are Hebrews, Syrians, 
Greeks and other nationalities of Southeastern Europe. 
Again there are thousands of Italian speaking people 
domiciled in sections where other racial stocks predom- 
inate so that these are not included in the estimated fig- 
ures by districts that follow. It is understood that the 
figures given for the population of the different colonies 
or sections are approximate. A distribution of the Ital- 
ian speaking population in New York City by Boroughs 
follows : 
DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN COLONIES IN MANHATTAN 



Section 

or 
Locality 



Street Boundaries 



Chief 
Dialects 
Spoken 



Estimated 
Population 
(Approx.) 



Mulberry Worth, Lafayette, Bow- 
Bend Park ery and Houston Sts. 



West Side Canal, West 4th, West 

(lower) Broadway, North River 

East Side East 9th St., East River, 

(middle) 2nd Ave., and 33rd St. 

West Side 34th St., 59th St., North 

(middle) River and Ninth Ave. 



E. Harlem 134th St., 125th St., 2nd, 
(Little Italy) Ave. to East River 

White 
Plains Ave. 

Van Cort- 
landt 

Gun Hill 
Road 

Scattering 

TOTAL 



Genoese 
Calabrian 
Neapolitan 
Sicilian 

Calabrian 
Piedmontese 
Tuscan 
Neapolitan 

Sicilian 
Calabrian 

Neapolitan 
Genoese 
Turinese 
Milanese 

Neapolitan 
Calabrian 
Sicilian 
Salernitano 

Neapolitan 
Sicilian 
Calabrian 
Miscellaneous 



110,000 

70,000 
18,000 
15,000 

75,000 

3,500 

2,000 

1,500 

15,000 
310,000 



20 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN COLONIES IN BRONX 

Section Chief Estimated 

or Street Boundaries Dialects Population 

Locality Spoken (Approx.) 

T- ju T3J c 13 1 Abbruzzese 
T7 ,1 bordham Rd., So. Boule- r, 7c nnn 

I'ordham , -.nn c. j o j a Barese o5,U(JU 

vard, 180 St. and 3rd Ave. c- -i- 
' Sicilian 

Barese 

i^T^^^.-ooL.-o ^fd Ave., 149th St., 161st Sicilian onnnn 

Mornsania g^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ Abbruzzese ^0,000 

Neapolitan 

Williams- Neapolitan 20 000 

bridge Sicilian 

Van Nest Neapolitan ^jqqq 

Calabnan 
Bedford Pky., Moshulu Calabrian 
Bedford Pk. Pky., Jerome Ave., and Neapolitan 15,000 

The Concourse Sicilian 
Scattering Miscellaneous 10,000 
TOTAL 115,000 

DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN COLONIES IN RICHMOND 

Section Chief Estimated 

or Street Boundaries Dialects Population 
Locality Spoken (Approx.) 

u , , St. Mary's Ave., Tomp- ^^7^1^" a c^n 

Rosebank , -^^ a,,/ (-u„.<-J„+ A,,i^ Calabnan 6,500 

kins Ave., Chestnut Ave. t.t ,.. ' 

Neapolitan 

Tompkins- Van Duzer St., St. Paul's t,t i-^ o enn 

ville Ave., Hannah St. Neapolitan 3,500 

^t^n^"^^' Jersey St., Brighton Ave. Calabrian 3,000 

A^^^^Uo^ Richmond Ave. c-- -i- innn 

Arrochar ^j^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Sicilian 2,000 

mond ^'"^ Street Neapolitan 1,000 

West New Richmond St., Brighton 

Brighton Ave. Sicilian 1,000 - 

^°".f,^" Puritan Ave., Liberty Ave. Neapolitan 500 

Hills 

Tottenville 

Stapleton 

Arlington 

Mariner's Miscellaneous 2,500 

Harbor 
Elm Park, 

etc. 

TOTAL 20,000 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 21 

DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN COLONIES IN BROOKLYN 



Section 

or 
Locality 



Street Boundaries 



Chief 
Dialects 
Spoken 



Estimated 
Population 
(Approx.) 



Bridge 

Section 

City Park 

Hamilton 
Ave. 



Front, High, Gold, and 
Prospect Sts. 

Hudson Ave., Navy Yard, 
N. Portland & Myrtle Avs 

Hamilton Ave., Court St., 
Atlantic Ave., Columbia 
St. 

Fifth Ave., Degraw St., 
Nevins St., and 22nd St. 

New Utrecht Ave., 60th 
St., 11th Ave., 70th St. 

Bay 11th, Bath Avenue to 
Coney Island 

DeKalb Ave., Marcy Ave., 
Flushing Ave., Grand Ave. 

Union Ave., N. 6th St., 
Bedford, Graham, John- 
son Aves. 

Evergreen Ave., Willough- 

by Ave., Knickerbocker Sicilian 

Ave., Flushing Ave. 

Malbone St., Nostrand 

Ave., Kings County Bldgs Neapolitan 

and Flushing Ave. 

Troy Ave., St. Marks Ave. 
Utica Ave., Fulton St. 

Rockaway Ave., Liberty 
Ave., Pennsylvania Ave., 
and Fulton St. 

Atlantic Ave., Ashford St., 
Glenmore Ave., Essex St. 



Fourth Ave. 

Lefferts Pk. 

Bath Beach 
& Coney Is. 

Franklin 
Ave. 

Williams- 
burg Ave. 

Bushwick 

Flatbush 
Troy Ave. 
East N. Y. 

Elton St. 

Scattering 
TOTAL 



Calabrian 


10,000 


Neapolitan 
Gragitano 


15,000 


Sicilian 


20,000 


Neapolitan 


30,000 


Calabrian 


10,000 


Sicilian 


15,000 


Calabrian 


15,000 


Neapolitan 


40,000 



Neapolitan 



30,000 



5,000 



5,000 



Neapolitan 
Salernitano 20,000 
Barese 



Neapolitan 5,000 

Miscellaneous 15,000 
235,000 



22 



THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 



DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN COLONIES IN QUEENS 



Section 

or 
Locality 



Street Boundaries 



Chief Estimated 

Dialects Population 
Spoken (Approx.) 



Long Island 

City 
(No. Sec.) 



Willow St., Washington 
PI., Hallet St., Hoyt Ave. 



Ninth Ave., Astoria Ave., 
Steinway Ave. 
Ridgwood, Hamilton St., 
Peeree St., Washington 
(West. Sec.) Ave., Webster & Graham 
Ave., Ridge St., Camilier 
St. 

Fifth to 10th Avenues 
Fifth Ave., Moore St., 
Sycamore Ave., Alburtis 
Ave. 

Corona Ave. 
Scattered 



(East. Sec.) 



(So. Sec.) 

Corona 
(West.Sec.) 



Abruzzese 6,000 

Salernitano 4,000 

Sicilian 

Neapolitan 6,000 

Piedmontese 



(No. Sec.) 
(East. Sec.) 
Jamaica 
(West.Sec.) 

Flushing 
(East. Sec.) 

Scattered 
TOTAL 



South St., Rockaway Ave. 

Amity St., W. Grove St. 
and Vicinity 



Neapolitan 

Salernitano 
Neapolitan 

Basilicatanese 
Miscellaneous 

Basilicatanese 

Sicilian 
Neapolitan 
Calabrian 
Miscellaneous 



2,000 

6,000 

2,000 
2,500 

6,500 
5,000 

15,000 
55,000 



AGE CLASSIFICATION— According to the 1910 cen- 
sus the actual age distribution of Italians that entered 
was : 
AGE GROUPS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS BY PERCENTS, 

1910 
Year Race or People Under 14 Yrs. 14-44 Yrs. 45 Yrs. and over 
1910 Italian 10.4 83.5 6.1 

When we come to consider Americans of Italian ex- 
traction it is perfectly safe to say that because of the 
very recent character of Italian immigration this type 
will plot its heaviest below the 21 year age line. When 
we consider that immigration from Italy that first 
amounted to anything started in 1882 with but 32,160 
entering and that it was not until 1900 that it had crossed 
the 100,000 mark, we see that the descendents of these 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 23 

people must be in a comparatively youthful stage. A 
glance at the age-figures of those entering in a repre- 
sentative year will show how truly homogeneous is this 
group of Italian origin from the standpoint of age-char- 
acter — the great bulk of their parents being still in the 
prime of life when they arrived at this port. In actual 
numbers those entering in 1914, the year of the greatest 
immigration notwithstanding the abrupt stoppage due 
to the war, were : 

ITALIAN IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES, 1914 
Number 

Race Admitted Under 14 yrs. 14-44 yrs. 45 yrs. & over 

Italian, North 44,802 4,775 38,106 1,921 

Italian, South 251,612 32,936 201,428 17,248 

Total 296,414 47,711 239,534 19,179 

There are no age statistics for the second generation. 
The census bureau lumps the native-born of all foreign 
stocks together and makes one class of them. Before 
1900 however the number (74,168) was so small as to be 
inconsequential. It has steadily increased since so that 
in 1910 it more than doubled itself, rising to 191,545 in 
actual numbers. But it has remained for the last decade 
from 1910 on to witness the most phenomenal increase 
of this class in New York City.* From 1910-1917 there 
was an increase of 177,649 or a scant 15,000 to keep the 
original 1900 figure from again having doubled itself 
within seven years this time instead of ten. Computed in 
round numbers there are today in New York City 175,000 
Americans of Italian extraction (or 47%) of the second 
generation between one and nine years of age: 125,000 
or 34% between ten and nineteen years of age ; 35,000 
or 9% in each of the two succeeding age groups namely, 

* The actual increase by births for each year is as follows: 

1901 11,130 1909 24,882 

1902 12,746 1910 28,369 

1903 14,625 1911 28,290 

1904 16,301 1912 29,600 

1905 18,252 1913 29,533 

1906 21,216 1914 31,023 

1907 23,805 1915 29,717 

1908 25,754 1916 29,011 

1917 28,989 

(Above figures from original data furnished by Dr. Guilfoy) 



24 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

20-29 and 30-39 years, and finally 5,000 or 1% forty years 
and over. 

As these figures show, the type we are studying is 
essentially in a state of transition, the majority of them 
or fully 90% being contained in the first two age group- 
ings all below twenty-one years of age. Because of this 
fact the socio-economic conditions that we shall disclose 
in subsequent chapters like the "Standard of Living" 
and "Occupations" will be a standard of living dictated 
by the old generation and the facts themselves be largely 
socio-economic facts pertaining primarily to the first 
rather than to the second generation. For the reader to 
remember this is important because it affects practically 
the entire body constituting the second generation the 
members of which represent a state of transition, not 
having definitely and fully adjusted themselves to Amer- 
ican life from the standpoint of their own free choices 
because of their immaturity in years. In the chapter on 
LITERACY we notice the position of this class "en 
masse" in our public schools. The figures there shown 
corroborate the above reflection for by far the greatest 
number, namely 72 percent of the American of Italian 
extraction is found in the primary grades. 

According to the last available estimates of this city's 
population the figures put forth by the Board of Health 
show a population of 5,748,629 people. The population 
of New York City of school-going age i. e. 5-18 is 1,352,- 
460 or 23.6 per cent of the total population. Italians and 
Americans of Italian extraction numbering 730,842 rep- 
resent 12.7 percent of the total population while the 
second generation constitutes 30.1 percent of the city's 
school going population. 

SEX CLASSIFICATION— Just as in the age distribu- 
tion so in the matter of sex no one study is available 
showing the distribution of this 700,000 odd population. 
According to the census taken in 1901* Italy with a pop- 

* The latest census was taken in June, 1911 and showed for 
the entire population over 10 years of age the following: males 
12,889,847; females 13,680,201 or substantially no difference from 
the figures quoted above. (Taken from ITALY TO-DAY, Bul- 
letin of Italian Bureau of Public Information, 1918.) 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 25 

ulation of 32,475,353 showed the following proportions 
between the sexes ; 

Date of POPULATION Proportion of 

Country Census Male Female Males to 

100 Females 
Italy 1901 16,155,130 16,320,123 99.0 

The sex of our Italian immigrants was not anywhere 
thus evenly distributed because at the beginning 
approximately six males to one female entered this coun- 
try. This disparity has been steadily decreasing, how- 
ever, until now the proportion of men entering is three 
to one female. 

In the United States the percentage of males to fe- 
males is 106 in favor of the latter. For New York City 
according to the last census 1910, the proportion between 
the sexes is as follows : 

Borough Males Females 

Manhattan 1,168,657 1,164,883 

Bronx 217,126 213,860 

Brooklyn 809,891 824,560 

Queens 144,205 139,836 

Richmond 44,757 41,262 

Dr. Laidlaw found thruout Manhattan as a whole 
which he considered representative, that native born fe- 
males of all racial strains exceed the native-born males 
by 12,277 while the foreign-born females exceed the for- 
eign-born males only by 1298. In the Bronx males ex- 
ceed the females among the foreign-born population 
while the females exceed the males among the native- 
born. Dr. Laidlaw stated, however, that the above dis- 
crepancy was in large part due to the fact that a great 
many Italians were at that time engaged on the public 
works of this Borough.* It would seem from all this 
that of the adult generations the males predominate ; but 
with the American of Italian extraction, no great dis- 
parity in sex exists that is of any moment, the distribu- 
tion between male and female being practically even. 
For the entire population of foreign parentage, as a mat- 
ter of fact, this same ratio of evenness between the sexes 
exists and has remained stationary since 1890 with a 

* Federation, April 1912, p. 25. 



26 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

tendency in most cities towards a decline in the number 
of males.* 

CONJUGAL RELATIONSHIP— Marital statistics for 
Italians and Americans of Italian extraction show 
marked differences as is to be expected. For all nation- 
alities daughters of the foreign-born show only 19% 
of those aged between 15-24 to be married, while among 
daughters of native-born parents 30% are married ; for 
the men between 20-29 only 26% of the native-born sons 
of foreign stock are married ; while of the sons of na- 
tives 38.5^° are married.** As Prof. Commons points 
out this phenomenon sustains what can be proved in 
many large cities, and New York City is no exception. 
The following table shows the conjugal condition of en- 
tering immigrants : 

CONJUGAL CONDITION OF IMMIGRANTS, 1910 

PERCENTAGE 
Sex 14 to 44 years 45 years and over 

Single Married Wid. Div. Single Married Wid. Div. 
Males 55.3 44.2 0.5 a 5.2 86.8 7.9 a 

Females 57.7 39.9 2.Z a 6.6 52.8 40.5 0.1 

a. Less than one-tenth of one percent. 

F'airchild points out the deep significance that these 
figures have for us in our problem of synthetization. 
More than half of all immigrants of both sexes are sin- 
gle, showing therefore that the immigration movement 
is not a movement of families. One of the greatest 
forces for Americanization in immigrant families is the 
growing children, in this case numbering 300,000 or 81 
per cent. "Where they are lacking the adults have much 
less contact with assimilation influences."*** Together 
with the American of Jewish extraction, the type under 
surveillance here is able to bring all the possible ad- 
vantages that numbers carry upon the process of syn- 
thetization and Americanization. Our type here as we 
have seen is most numerous within the three to nine age 

* See also hand-book of Federal Statistics of Children, Chil- 
dren's Bureau, Publication No. 5, Second Edition, passim, where 
for the entire country for both the foreign and native stocks 
"the number of boys and girls is always nearly equal." p. 10. 

** Commons, J. R., Races and Immigrants in America, p. 203. 

*** Fairchild, H. P. Immigration, p. 202. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 27 

group and is consequently for the most part unmarried. 

MIXED MARRIAGES— In the matter of children the 
question whether the two parents are of one strain is an 
important one. Dr. Jones found that the antipathy ex- 
isting between the Irish and the Italian vanished when 
the latter learned the American point of view, and he 
hereafter expects to see a family life where marriages 
between the Italians and the Irish will be as numerous 
as have been marriages between the Germans and the 
Irish. In the latter case there is perhaps more in com- 
mon. Both the Italian and the Irish colonies are strong- 
holds of Catholicism and this coupled with their con- 
vivial affinities would help draw the emotional and highly 
strung natures of both these stocks together more fre- 
quently. As a matter of fact this mixing of the Irish 
with the Italian is a process that is going on rapidly, 
particularly in the Italian families on the middle West 
Side of New York City. We call to mind in this con- 
nection the situation as it exists for the City of Boston 
where a special inquiry showed that 236 Italian families 
in a colony of 7900 were of mixed parentage with pre- 
dominantly Irish tendencies. 

Some idea of the rapid absorption of Italian blood thru 
mixed marriages is afforded by the study of Ripley made 
some years ago. In all there were 484,207 Italians in 
the United States in 1900. Marriages of Italian mothers 
and American born fathers produced 2747 offspring; 
23,076 had Italian fathers and native-born mothers ; 
12,523 had Italian fathers and mothers of some other 
non-American nationality, while 3,911 had Italian moth- 
ers and fathers neither American nor Italian born. Thus 
of the 484.000 Italians, nearly 1/10 were of mixed blood. 
This is as high a ratio of blood mixture as is found 
among any other group of immigrants representing the 
"newer immigration."* 

For New York City we have some interesting data 
available for the first time. In 1900 there were only 
108 births of mixed parentage in this city; by 1916 this 
had increased to 530 or a gain of 390.7 per cent : the fol- 

* Ripley, Ezra P. "Journal of the Royal Anthropological In- 
stitute" Vol. 38, p. 233, 



28 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

lowing year 1917 saw a gain of 257 or 48.4 per cent over 
the preceding year* and if the figures of 1918 were 
available this percentage would be even higher. Dr. 
Guilfoy concludes from the above figures that "the war 
apparently has resulted in more Italian women marrying 
men of other nationalities." The war unquestionably 
was a factor in explaining the above but it was not the 
most important by any means. To the writer the main 
reason for the increasing prevalence of mixed marriages 
is the increasing number of Americans of Italian extrac- 
tion, men and women alike, that are coming into what 
Jones has termed "the American point of view" and be- 
cause of this, rather than because of the war we can 
confidently expect to see an increasing frequency of 
mixed marriages among these people. 

RELATION BETWEEN SIZE OF FAMILY AND 
ITS PLACE IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SCALE— It 
is obvious that for the earliest periods of family life 
there is a direct relation between the size of the family 
and its place in our socio-economic life. The more 
mouths there are to feed the more severe is the struggle 
for existence. This is but temporary, however, and after 
the children have grown up the burdens of the parents 
are considerably lessened. 

It is the trying early period and the large percentage 
of the second generation among Italian speaking peo- 
ples of New York City that brought the Italians third 
in the bad preeminence of congested families. The 
test made was that of finding the greatest frequency for 
the highest number of persons per sleeping room. Twen- 
ty-two percent of all the Italians from the southern part 
of Italy occupied all of their rooms as sleeping rooms ; 
outranked by but the Greeks and the Syrians who 
showed for this same phenomenon the percentages of 
42.9 and 42.1 respectively.** 

The Immigration Commission found that approxi- 
mately 26 percent of the households they visited kept 
boarders or lodgers. In New York City this proportion 

* Courtesy of Dr. Wm. H. Guilfoy, Registrar of Records, New 
York City Health Dept. 

**Jenks and Lauck; The Immigration Problem, p. 133 passirn. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY - 29 

was in round numbers 25 percent. Among Italians 42.9% 
were found to have used this means as an aid in solv- 
ing the problem of living. In this they were outranked 
by the Lithuanians with 70.3 and Hungarians with 47'^°.* 
In contrast we find that only 9.5% of the Germans had 
boarders; 5.3% of the Syrians; 16.7% of the Irish; 13.1% 
of the Bohemians — all of which groups excepting the 
Germans constitute what is called the "old immigration." 
The writer's knowledge of the Italian home and the 
Italian temperament makes him believe that the social 
and convivial nature of the Latin, apart from the econ- 
omy involved, helps markedly to give the Italian his 
high percentage. 

The American of Italian extraction comes from a race 
where family ties are strong. This is evidenced by the 
fact that 13.7% of the contributors concerning them- 
selves with the question "What does the American of 
Italian extraction lose by his contact with American de- 
mocracy?" say that one of the chief losses that this 
type of American sustains thru his contacts with his 
new home in our American democracy is the loss of the 
warm and intimate family relationships that obtained 
among the older generation.** The nature of this strong 
family relationship is important to understand because 
usually the degree or intensity of saturation with Amer- 
ican culture gained by individuals of this type varies 
inversely with the degree or intensity of grip that the 
family life of the older generation holds upon such an 
individual. There is a constant struggle or competition 
going on between the forces of the outside world, rep- 
resenting on the one hand, AMERICANISM, and on the 
other hand the influences of the home or of family life 
playing for the predominance of Italian habits, customs, 
ways of thinking and of ideas. 

Jane Addams in her book "Twenty Years at Hull 
House" tells of a play written by an Italian playwright 
which depicted the too often insolent break between 
Americanized sons and old country parents so touch- 

* ibid. 

** Symposium, infra Chapter 25. 



30 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

ingly that it moved to tears all the older Italians in the 
audience. It is this tenacity of holding on at all costs 
and for all time by the adult Italian to some of their 
old world standards that often makes the Irishman hate 
him very bitterly for he is willing to work regardless 
of workingmen's standards in this country. In many 
cases this "hiatus" between both generations is enough 
to account for the entire difference between a delinquent 
and a normal member of society. The best instance of 
this is seen in the cases of girls belonging to Italian 
homes. Held down close to the home of the older gen- 
eration, essentially foreign, and dominated by the tradi- 
tions of an environment and way of life totally differ- 
ent — the newer impulse of our freer life when it comes 
is sufficient to account for the many over-balancings. As 
Woods says "the Italian girl unless she has stepped be- 
yond the confines of morality is rarely seen in any public 
place of amusement save in the company of an older 
person." It is this carrying over of foreign traditions 
and over-assiduity by the parents that makes for mis- 
chief and which accounts for the reason why so many 
girls of Italian origin are to be found in the custody 
of probation officers and the like. Yet as Woods again 
points out "no daughter is more carefully looked after 
than the child of Italian parents." The point we wish 
to make here is that the "family life" such as the Amer- 
ican of Italian extraction often encounters operates as 
a fetter or hindrance to a full-blown Americanism. In 
some cases and particularly in the poorest sections the 
"family life" is of a kind almost worse than none at all. 
Summarizing the above we see that the type of indi- 
vidual we are studying is unique in that it represents a 
new generation fitted into the standards of an older one. 
The restrictive influences of a perverting social environ- 
ment upon the full play of the forces that make for 
Americanism are easily seen. Most apparent of all is 
the paradox attempted by the American of Italian ex- 
traction in seeking to retain the best and most represen- 
tative of the old world culture of an older generation 
while striving to secure a full measure of the new. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 31 

CHAPTER IV 

OCCUPATIONS 

RELATION OF ITALIAN TO OTHER STOCKS IN 
AMERICAN INDUSTRIES— It was found that foreign- 
born laborers made up 58% of the total number of the 
labor force in American industries.* Of this the Italians 
form 7%.** Their children, or Americans of Italian ex- 
traction, in a representative study made by the Immi- 
gration Commission constituted but .3% of the total can- 
vassed. It was found that while 22.5% of foreign-born 
laborers were so classified only 9.9% of their sons fell 
in the same category. f Compared with native-born 
Americans of foreign fathers from other countries the 
distribution of Americans born of Italian blood in Amer- 
ican industries is as follows ::|: 
INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANT WAGE- 
EARNERS 
General Nativity and Race Total of 21 Industries 

Native-born of foreign father : 

Germany 4.8 

Ireland 4.6 

England 2.1 

Canada 1.9 

Austria-Hungary 9 

Scotland 6 

Russia 5 

Wales 4 

Sweden 3 

Italy 3 

Netherlands 2 

France 2 

Switzerland 1 

DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIAN BLOOD IN DIFFER- 
ENT INDUSTRIES — Mangano says that three-quarters 

* Lauck and Sydenstricker — "Condition of Labor in Amer- 
ican Industries" p. 1. 
** Ibid p. 4. 

t Immigration Commission Abstract of Report on Occupa- 
tions of the First and Second Generations of Immigrants in the 
United States, pp. 13-27. 

tjenks, J. W. — "The Immigration Problem" p. 516. 



Z2 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

of the people of Italian blood who come here worked 
in the fields at home and that but 16% do similar work 
here. The remainder are employed chiefly in the coun- 
try's silk mills, machine shops, subways, water-works, 
railroad-construction gangs, quarries and mines.* Lauck 
found that the largest number are employed in railroad 
and other construction work.** Coming from Italy the 
status of Italian immigrants for the last two decades 
was as follows \\ 

OCCUPATION OF EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS REPORTING 
EMPLOYMENT 1899-1910 

People No. Reporting PERCENT 

Employment 

Professional Skilled Laborers 

Occupa- Occupa- including Misc. 
tions tions Farm 

Italian, North 296,622 LI 20.4 66.5 12.0 

Italian, South _ 1,472,659 .4 _ 14.6 _ 77.0 _ 7.9 

Prof. Pecorini's study of the industrial distribution of 
Italians in the United States shows that one-fifth of 
those from the North of Italy and one-sixth from the 
South are skilled.^ 

A distribution of such labor for 1914, the heav- 
iest year of Italian immigration to this country shows 
up as follows :§ 

Group NORTH ITALIAN SOUTH ITALIAN 

Professional 508 608 

Skilled labor 6,073 22,606 

Misc. occupations 2,079 165,205 

No occupation 10,142 63,193 

There is no way of telling what the wages of the dif- 
ferent industrial groups according to racial lines in 
either New York City or elsewhere may be. Other im- 
migrants from South-eastern Europe include Poles, 
Slavs, Hungarians, Austrians, etc., and all these are in- 

* Mangano, Antonio — "Sons of Italy" p. 21. 
** Lauck and Sydenstr' ker — "Conditions of Labor in Amer- 
ican Industry" p. 4. 

t Statistical Review of Immigration, p. 53. 
JPecorini, Alberto — "The Italian as an Agricultural La- 
borer," Annals of the American Academy of Political and So- 
cial Science, Vol. 38—1909. 

§ Reports of Commissioner-General of Immigration, p. 62 
seq. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 33 

extricably intertwined with Italians in the city's and the 
nation's working population. The average weekly earn- 
ings of industrial workers of Italian blood according to 
sex and generation, are shown in the following table, 
viz ;* 

AVERAGE AMOUNT OF WEEKLY EARNINGS OF AMER- 

ICANS OF ITALIAN EXTRACTION AND ITALIANS 

18 YEARS OR OVER 

Average for all Industries 
General Nativity and Race Male Female 

Native-born of foreign father: 

Italy $10.61 $7.70 

Foreign-born : 
Italian, North 11.28 7.31 

Italian, South 9.61 6.64 

Italian, not specified 12.64 a 

a Not computed, owing to small number involved. 

DISTRIBUTION IN NEW YORK CITY— The ex- 
haustive inquiry into the racial composition of America's 
industrial army conducted by the United States Immi- 
gration Commission some years ago found that Amer- 
icans of foreign fathers constitute 17% of this country's 
total working force. Just how much of this includes 
Americans of Italian extraction in New York City is im- 
possible to determine. Different proportions hold for 
the adult Italian and for his children. Of the former 
82% are industrially employed ; for his children no ade- 
quate figures are available. Prof. Ogburn found that 
in New York City 7.5% of its entire children were 
gainfully employed in industry in 1910. If this rate held 
true for children of Italian blood, and unquestionably it 
does, then fully 30,000 Americans of Italian origin are 
industrially employed.** . 

In New York City it is safe to say that the Italian 
predominates in the Street Cleaning Department, sub- 
way construction work, barber shops and building trades. 
It is impossible to predicate a distribution of their de- 
scendants because as yet the vast majority have not at- 
tained the years and maturity necessary to their be- 

*Jenks, J. W. — "The Immigration Problem" p. 521 seq. 
** Ogburn, W. F. — "A Statistical Study of American Cities" 
Reed College Record, No. 27, Portland Oregon, Dec. 1917. 



34 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

coming "set" or "adjusted;" thus we cannot assign 
them a place in the industrial and commercial world. 
The few that have gone out before represent but 
an infinitesimal portion of the Italian blood in this great- 
est Italian center in the world. The chances are that 
when this chapter comes to be written it will differ 
markedly from the situation as it exists today among the 
adult ancestor. This is to be expected because of the 
marked disparity in the percentages of the industrially 
employed Americans of Italian extraction and Italians 
proper, as was shown in the preceding diagrams. 

Most conclusive of all, however, is the marked differ- 
ences in the occupations chosen by the Italian and the 
American of Italian extraction as shown in the Report 
of the Immigration Commission. The very notable 
advance is made in the rank of clerks and copyists from 
twenty-fourth place in the first generation to fourth 
in the second; and of salesmen from twenty-first in the 
first generation to sixth place in the second.* 

By far the greatest majority of these industrial work- 
ers are crowded in the lower part of Manhattan as is 
shown in the following diagram :** 

DISTRIBUTION OF ITALIANS AND RESIDENCES OF 
WORKERS EMPLOYED IN LOWER MANHATTAN 

Proportion of total workers living in 
Sex Manhattan Manhattan Other 

below 14 St. above 14 St. boroughs Jersey 

Male 61.7 14.4 21.3 2.6 

Female 75.7 8.5 10.5 5.3 

WHAT THE "NEW" GENERATION HOPES FOR— 
Miss Brandt tried an experiment some years ago, going 
down to the large Italian School at Mulberry Bend Park 
and asking the children there what they would like to 
do for a living. She says, "The most striking manifes- 
tation of the American spirit was disclosed in the econ- 
omic aspirations of the children i. e. Americans of Ital- 
ian extraction. The ambition which in Italy would have 

♦Occupation of the Immigrant — Vol. 65, p. 173. 
** Pratt, E. E., "Causes of Industrial Congestion in New York 
City" pp. 138-140. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 35 

been dormant is aroused in America by the all pervasive 
idea of 'getting ahead.' It is the exception if the son 
of the immigrant who works at the shovel or goes out 
with the hod, grows up to use the same tool." t Of the 
150 children of whom the question "What are you going 
to be, or what do you prefer doing for a living," was 
asked, the following were the answers received: 

BOYS (66) GIRLS (77) 

4 — undecided 47 — dressmakers 

10 — chose father's calling 13 — teachers 

2 — not indicated in any way 
49 — vocation different from 
father 

NOTE: Of the 49 who chose vocations different from that 
of their father's, the following occupations were noted in order 
of greatest frequency — physician, lawyer, musician, painter, 
writer of books, teacher, sculptor, policeman, fireman, and 
saloon keeper. 

Dr. Van Denburg* put practically the same question 
"What do you expect to do for a living" to 211 boys 
and 278 girls in the public high schools of this city and 
got the following results: Of the 211 boys who ex- 
pressed a choice, the occupations chosen were 

Vocation Number Pupils Approximate Percent 

Architect 7 3.3 

Business 36 17.0 

Electrician 9 4.2 

Civil Engineer 39 18.4 

Electrical Engineer 27 12.7 

Mechanical Engineer 5 2.3 

Law 24 11.4 

Medicine 7 3.3 

Msce. Trades 8 3.7 

Msce. Construction 14 6.6 

Teacher 11 5.2 

Engineer 5 2.3 

Scattering 19 9.0 

TOTAL 211 100.0 

t Brandt, Lillian— "A Transplanted Birthright" The De- 
velopment of the Second Generation of Italians in an Ameri- 
can Environment, Charities, 1904. 

*Van Denburg, Dr. J. — "Causes of Retardation and Elimi- 
nation in our City Schools" Columbia University, Studies in 
Education, Teachers College Record, p. 49. 



36 



THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 



The girl's choices were expressed as follows : 
Vocation Number Pupils Approximate Percent 



Bookkeeper 

Designer 

Dressmaker 

Musician 

Stenographer 

Teacher in Public School.. 

Teacher 

Scattering 



9 

6 

7 

7 

46 

167 

12 

24 



3.2 

2.1 

2.5 

12.5 

16.9 

60.0 

4.3 

8.6 



TOTAL 278 100.0 

The same experiment as conducted by Miss Brandt 

was repeated at the Italian School by the writer with 

the following results : 



GIRLS (78) 
Vocation Number 

Dressmaker 31 

Operator on machines 21 

Typists 8 

Teacher 8 

Embroiderer 4 

Doll maker 2 

Music teacher 1 

Glove maker 1 

Pianist 1 

Housekeeper 1 



BOYS (81) 
Vocation Number 

Mechanic 17 

Stenographer 6 

Soldier 6 

Sailor 6 

Printer 6 

Carpenter 5 

Engineer 4 

Civil Engineer 4 

Machinist 4 

Truckman 4 

Doctor 3 

Shipping Clerk 3 

Lav^^yer 3 

Professor 3 

Telephone operator 2 

Chauffeur 2 

Fireman 1 

Artist 1 

Musician 1 

These figures all show beyond peradventure of doubt 
the Americanizing influences going on rapidly apace 
among the Italian element in the life of our city. It also 
tends to show that the day is passing when most of the 
physical work, such as digging, building, and heavy con- 
struction work is to be done chiefly by our Italian ele- 
ment. The growing generation of Italian origin changes 
markedly in his desires, aspirations and ambitions for the 
future from his parents, as the figures show. Of those al- 
ready sufficiently advanced to show what choices are 
actually being made the profession of medicine seems 
most popular. This is followed by law and lastly by 
teaching. For the girls, no adequate indices exist that 
warrant us making any statement. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 37 

CHAPTER V 
HEALTH 

INTRODUCTION— The American of Italian extrac- 
tion is descended from a race that is noted for its ro- 
bustness and vitaHty. Years of labor in the sunny fields 
of Italy, a life almost continuously out of doors, have 
served to enrich the Italian with a native physical con- 
stitution and endowed him with a fund of rugged health 
that stands him in good stead. This fact alone has made 
possible his standing up under the severe strain and 
stress to which his physical constitution is subjected in 
doing such work as digging tunnels, erecting sky-scrap- 
ers, and building railroads. With his children however, 
the case is different. An unusually high, in fact the 
highest mortality rate for first generation of Americans 
of all descents obtains among the offspring of the Ital- 
ian. With respect to tuberculosis, the disease that is 
most ravishing and takes the highest toll. Dr. Stella, 
who has made specific and detailed studies of Italian sec- 
tions in New York City, says, "If we are to accept the 
principle of health, that a density greater than 25 persons 
per acre and an aggregation greater than 2 people per 
room which does not allow at least 85 cm. of air per 
person, is bad for both the social well being and the in- 
dividual health, we must immediately conclude that the 
homes in which the Americans of Italian extraction live 
are absolutely responsible for their acquired suscepti- 
bility to tuberculosis."* Other authors in attempting to 
explain the high death rate among Italians, have mis- 
takenly had recourse to the facts of diet as the entire 
cause for this high mortality rate. Jones, for instance 
believes that, "The necessity for a different food from 
that to which he has been accustomed is not understood 
at first. Italians learn to eat the proper amount of meat 
only after they have been here some time and find them- 
selves unable to cope with the conditions of labor and 

* Stella, Antonio — "La Lotta contra la Tuberculosis fra gli 
Italian! nella Citta di New York", p. 48. 



38 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

of weather to which they are subjected. The high death 
rate among them is totally due to a diet too exclusively 
vegetable to supply the necessary nutrition."* 

The authors of "The Tenement House Problem" also 
conclude that, "The generally high death rate of the 
Italian race is due to the fact that they are unable to 
adapt their diet to our climate and live upon a kind of 
food, adequate for the South of Italy, but totally inade- 
quate for New York City."** In this the authors fail 
to keep apart the problem of the Italian and that of the 
American of Italian extraction. The two problems from 
the standpoint of health are as different as are the in- 
dividuals concerned. It is patent that in the case of the 
American of Italian extraction who has not known for 
at least the first twenty years of his life, the frugal 
cereal diet of his father, the problem of dietary read- 
justment is of less concern than that of congestion, over- 
crowding and filthy rooms, inadequate ventilation, lack 
of sanitary appliances, and absence of fresh air and sun- 
light. It is these latter causes that have given the Amer- 
ican of Italian extraction the highest mortality rate of 
any descendants of any immigrant stocks in our city, 
and have made for the "heightened susceptibility" to 
disease of which Dr. Stella speaks. 

VITAL STATISTICS— Comparing the death rate for 
foreign-born children with the children of native stock, 
it is impossible to determine for the racial stock that we 
are studying, figures that apply directly in this connec- 
tion. An investigation conducted some years ago on an 
extensive scale in New York City among school children 
will point out what undoubtedly in a general way exists 
among this particular type, excepting that conditions on 
the whole are constantly being bettered. 

Taking the entire city, it was found that about two- 
thirds of the children examined in the public schools 
several years ago were physically defective. The spe- 
cific causes found were mal-nutrition, present in 12.9% 
of the defective children ; 79% with bad teeth that needed 
treatment; 45% suffered from throat trouble; 47% with 

* Jones, T. J. — "Sociology of a City Block", p. 72. 
** De Forest and Veillier— "The Tenement House Problem", 
p. 294. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 39 

nose trouble; and 70% suffered from enlarged glands. 
In round numbers, the conditions found in New York 
City showed that 41,600 children were insufficiently fed, 
and that almost 300,000 had bad teeth.* 

Among the higher ages, correspondingly high figures 
for New York City were obtained. For the whole coun- 
try during the war more than 50% of our young men 
were rejected on account of physical unfitness out of 
which city boys contributed 28.47% in New York 
City.** At many recruiting stations 80% out of 100% 
recruits who presented themselves, were frequently 
found unfit. Out of a group of 80 volunteers only 8 
could stand the preliminary examinations.! Dr. Ayres' 
investigation of 3,304 New York City children, found 
only 919 to be without defects.^ 

Data from the office of the Italian Consulate for a 
representative year showed that out of 11,396 men about 
20 years of age examined for military service, 3,921 were 
rejected and only 7,475 accepted. In Italy the percentage 
of rejections varied from 15% to 22% ; in New York 
City, for the same stock the percentage jumped from 
30% to 35%. 

In the only study of its kind made in New York City 
bearing directly on the type in question here, we are 
able to present some data regarding the extremely high 
mortality rate prevalent. Dr. Stella, President of the 
Roman Legion of America who made this study says, 
"thru the courtesy of Dr. Guilfoy, Registrar of Vital 
Statistics and who personally checked the figures herein 
cited, and to whom I desire publicly to express my grat- 
itude, I am able to present some very interesting data 
regarding Italian children in certain blocks in New York 

* American Statistical Association, Vol. X, p. 30. Frederick 
Hoffman, "The General Death Rate of Large American Cities." 
(It is added by the author that the term "foreign-born" is 
seriously misleading if the various nationalities are considered 
in the aggregate for there are wide differences in the mortalitj^ 
and disease liability of the different nationalities.) 

** Evening Mail Editorial, July 10, 1918, Dr. Maximilian P. E. 
Groszmann. 

tRumely, Dr. E. A., Evening Mail, July 6, 1918. 

t Ayres, Leonard P. — "Laggards in our City Schools," p. 124. 



40 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

City, classified according to ages and kinds of sickness. 
This is the first time that such a study has been made 
with respect to age and nationality in Manhattan and 
the results are extremel}'' instructive."* 

The studies conducted by Dr. Stella are particularly 
valuable because they represent actual conditions. What 
he did was to make a first-hand investigation or a health- 
assay as it were, of specific localities. His data repre- 
sent concrete facts painstakingly gathered and carefully 
analyzed. As he himself puts it "it was a study of the 
particular conditions and habits, in short of the whole 
life of that population which is crowded in blocks below 
East 112th Street, between First and Second Avenues, 
and of Block X, East Houston, Prince, Elizabeth and 
Mott Streets. The conditions found afford graphic evi- 
dence illustrating the efi^ects of over-crowding. I have 
picked for the study ten blocks afterwards described be- 
cause they contained a representative number of tene- 
ment houses in various parts of the city among those 
most populated and which were at the same time in- 
habited by Italians."** 

The results of his investigations are amazing. 

According to the original data carefully collected from 
certain typical blocks, it was found as can be seen in the 
following tables that the general mortality for New York 
City when this study was made was 18.35 per 1000 popu- 
lation and for children below 5 years of age, 51.5 per 
1000. On the other hand contrasted to these figures the 
data for 6 typical Italian blocks gave the following as- 
tonishing results : 

AVERAGE ITALIAN MORTALITY (For 1000 Inhabitants) 

Block (isolated) A 24.5 Below 5 years of age 87.03 

B 24.9 " 92.2 

C 22.4 " 81.6 

D 22.5 " 74.7 

E 22.3 " 83.1 

F 23.2 " 59.5 

* Stella, Antonio; La Lotta Contro La Tubercolosi fra gli 
Italiani nella Citta di New York, ed Effetti dell' Urbanismo. 
(The struggle against tuberculosis among Italians in New York 
City and the effects of city life.) 

** The quotations below are translations by the writer from 
Dr. Stella's work cited above. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 41 

AVERAGE MORTALITY FOR RESPIRATORY DISEASES 

For the entire city (per 1000 pop.) 12.7 

Rate for Italian blocks (below 5 years) : 

Block A 32.9 Block D 28.6 

" B 47.8 " E 49.0 

" C 35.3 " F 17.8 

AVERAGE MORTALITY FOR INFANTILE DIARRHEA 

Average mortality for the entire city (per 1000 pop.) 12.9 

Average mortality for Italian blocks : 

Block A 22.3 Block D 13.8 

" B 19.1 " E 19.3 

" C 17.6 " F 14.9 

GENERAL MORTALITY FOR DIPHTHERIA 

Mortality for entire city (per 100 inhabitants) 2.8 

Average mortality for Italian blocks : 

Block A 4.34 Block D 8.93 

" B 3.71 " E 3.20 

" C 4.61 " F 

These figures speak for themselves. Dr. Guilfoy, Regis- 
trar of Vital Statistics for the New York City Depart- 
ment of Health, in reviewing them calls it "an astonish- 
ing condition heretofore unheard of, for the rate of mor- 
tality presented by these above figures was over 2j^ 
times that among American boys and girls." He has 
himself recently collected the same data though for all 
nationalities and brought them down, up to date, in an 
excellent little monograph.* In this little brochure Dr. 
Guilfoy shows where the rugged constitutions of the 
Italian parent operate to have a favorable showing for 
the Italian stock when compared to the native American 
stock.** These figures hold for children under 1 year 
of age : 

BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN— 1915 

INFANT MORTALITY ACCORDING TO NATIONALITY 

OF MOTHER FROM CONGENITAL DISEASES 

PER 10,000 BIRTHS RECORDED 

Country Total births Deaths Total congenital Rate 

reported diseases 

United States 17,210 81 937 544 

Italy 14,946 53 442 295 

* Guilfoy, Dr. Wm. H. — "The influence of Nationality upon 
the Mortality of a Community" (with special references to the 
City of New York) Monograph Series No. ll,.Dept. of Health, 
Nov. 1917. 
** Ibid. p. 11. 



42 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

These figures show to the great disadvantage of the 
native or American population. As the Italian lengthens 
his stay here how^ever, environment begins to tell. In 
considering the mortality of children up to five years of 
age according to the nationality of the mother, the high' 
est mortality was found among the Italian children 
where 425 out of every 10,000 children of Italian mothers 
died during the year 1915. Taking the mortality figures 
for particular diseases we note the following: for in- 
fectious diseases the children of Italian parents show the 
highest mortality or 381 per 10,000 births as compared 
to 259 for children of native stock in 1915 ; for respira- 
tory diseases their preeminence is established again with 
176 deaths as over against 97 for every 10,000 births of 
native stock, or what is more than 3^ times that of 
children of German mothers, almost 3 times that of 
children of Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Irish moth- 
ers and a little less than double that of American 
mothers.* 

HEALTH AGENCIES — There are two chief agencies 
that look after the health of these people, (1) The Ital- 
ian Colony and (2) The New York City Health Depart- 
ment. Because the work of the latter is in no way dif- 
ferent among these people from that which obtains 
among other city dwellers only the first agency is dealt 
with here. 

The work of the Italian health agencies in this city, 
however, need not detain us long. Mangano says :** 
"There are numerous special efforts made to reach the 
Italian stock, yet it is a lamentable fact that few insti- 
tutions exist as a direct result of Italian initiative." There 
are no Mt. Sinai's in the Italian colony. The two chief 
reasons for this are (1) the lack of a moneyed class 
among the Italian-speaking people, (2) the compara- 
tively low percentage of medically employed Americans 
of Italian extraction in 'New York City who are in a 
position to point out to the public particular conditions, 
and put into effect possible remedies. 

Columbus Hospital is the oldest Italian health agency 

* Dr. Guilfoy, p. 13 seq. 
** Mangano — "Sons of Italy" p. 136. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 43 

in the city. It is located on 20th Street, between Second 
and Third Avenues, and was organized in 1892. Its su- 
pervision is under the order of the Missionary Sisters 
of the Sacred Heart. Columbus Hospital has no en- 
dowment, and depends entirely for support on the work 
of the Sisters of this Order. Although it is generally 
known as an Italian institution, yet figures for some 
years back show that of the 21 doctors on the staff, not 
one was Italian. The Sisters, who are responsible for 
the continuance of this institution though, are all native 
Italians; of the patients, fully 95% are of Italian blood. 

The one public enterprise that has had the backing 
and support of Italians in New York City is the Italian 
Hospital on E. 84th Street. * The wealthy silk manu- 
facturer Celestino Piva has made this his particular 
"hobby" and an annual reception is given under his di- 
rection, the proceeds of which go toward the mainte- 
nance of this institution. In this way thousands of dol- 
lars are collected. The Italian Hospital,' while not a 
large hospital, is thoroughly up-to-date, with modern 
equipment, and does a very effective work. 

The Washington Square Hospital in Washington Park 
was started some years ago by Dr. Carlo Savini. Dr. 
Savirli is one of the best Italian surgeons here and 
his hospital is as efficiently managed as is any mod- 
ern high class private institution. Dr. Savini has at- 
tracted to him not only Italian-speaking people, but 
many of other descents in this city. 

Notwithstanding the rather dark picture of conditions 
in the Italian districts above painted, the Tenement 
House Department declares that the tenements in the 
Italian quarter are much cleaner than those in the Jew- 
ish or the Irish quarters. The writer believes that there 
is very little to choose from any one of these three that 
would, in any great way, be different today, though in 
the early days going back as far as 1842, in his first an- 
nual report for the Health Department, Dr. Griscom de- 
scribed unhygienic conditions, dirt, and gave mortality 

* The president of this institution is the well known and 
popular Dr. John W. Perrilli, who not long ago was appointed 
by Mayor Hylan a Trustee of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. 



44 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

figures among the Irish of that day that were very much 
worse around Cherry Hill, Crosby Street and the Five 
Points section, than are those which exist today in the 
worst Italian blocks. 

There is no doubt that the values in Italian quarters 
have risen immensely and that this is not entirely due 
to the unprecedent rise in New York City real estate 
values. Mangano says that "Fifteen years ago before 
the Italian influx, twenty-five foot tenements were worth 
$10,000 to $15,000. They are now worth $40,000." How 
much of this is due to the fact that Italians make desir- 
able neighbors, and how much to the natural increase 
in values it is of course impossible to say. Both obtain. 
Education and municipal attention to the problem of 
health is doing much to better the health standards of 
this group and increase the value of the quarters they oc- 
cupy. The Charity Organization Society conducts in 
greater New York under the authority of the City Health 
Department an Italian Bureau, and furnishes the latest 
knowledge in preventive measures. By means of lec- 
tures, slides, literature, and practical demonstrations, an 
effective campaign is being constantly waged against 
that most insidious foe — ignorance. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 45 

CHAPTER VI 
STANDARD OF LIVING 

INTRODUCTION— The "Standard of Living" is a 
phrase that has been variously defined. Streighthoff says 
that "the standard of living consists of what men ac- 
tually enjoy."* Chapin, in a study bearing directly on 
conditions in New York City holds that the problem of 
the standard of living presents both an absolute and a 
relative aspect, namely (1) "a reliable presentation of 
actual data for a given time, place, and class" and (2) 
"a comparison with the standards of different times, 
places, and classes."** Morimoto in the most recent 
study on this subject says that "the standard of living 
is the controlling element in economic activities. "f 
Franklin H. Giddings says "the commodities that a la- 
boring class consumes are not its standard of living. 
They are merely an index of its standard. The real 
standard of living is a certain conception of economic 
life which regulates beliefs and new ideas in varying 
proportions and changes as these factors change. "$ 

It may seem strange that in studying Americans of 
Italian extraction we should concern ourselves with so- 
ciological data that are preeminently Italian. This fol- 
lows though necessarily from the fact that the first and 
even the second generations of Americans of Italian 
blood are never absolutely removed from the influences 
and physical environment of the Italian parent. For 
twenty years, and more in very many cases, the Ameri- 
can of Italian extraction has been under the shaping in- 
fluences of a home that in many cases is more Italian 
than American. § 

* Streighthoflf, F. H. "The Standard of Living" p. 2ff. 
** Chapin, R. C. "The Standard of Living Among Working- 
men's Families in New York City" passim. 

t Morimoto Kokichi, "Standard of Living in Japan, John 
Hopkins Univ. Studies," 1918. p. 11. 

J Giddings, Franklin H. "Descriptive and Historical Sociol- 
ogy", p. 253, 

§ See explanation, supra, p. 29. 



46 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

The degree of saturation with foreign culture varies. 
There is a constant change and shifting in the influence 
and importance of home Hfe upon the American of Ital- 
ian extraction rising directly from the fact that he is get- 
ting older and thinks for himself, and secondly, because 
the parents themselves are slowly but surely becoming 
changed. 

In times like these it is difficult to get any data con- 
cerning family budgets and living expenses that the next 
few years will not see materially changed. It is a ques- 
tion whether any of the past studies will hold to the 
same relative degree because of these shifting stand- 
ards due to the war. How different conditions are from 
what they were a year ago can be seen in a little re- 
port* made by a special committee appointed to investi- 
gate increased living costs. The findings of this com- 
mittee show an increase of 85% in food and clothing 
prices alone. An investigation carried on among families 
of limited means in Boston showed similar results. In 
this latter instance of the 200 families studied which 
included seventeen nationalities, one-fourth were Ital- 
ians. The average income of each family was shown to 
be somewhere between $15-$19 a week.** In New York 
City a group of 'ill families, a majority of which were 
exactly the type that we are studying according to the 
investigation made by the New York Association for 
the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor showed 
that increased living costs had mounted to 26% or that 
"the wage earner's dollar of January, 1918 had slightly 
less than four-fifths the purchasing power of the wage 
earner's dollar of 1917."t 

That the whole general stratum of living costs in re- 
lation to wages has been upset by war times can be 
readily seen when we consider that Federal statistics 
show the increase in the cost of living to be about twice 

* Bankers Trust Company Report on Increased Living 
Costs, 1917. 

** League for Preventive Work — Food Supply in Families of 
Limited Means, Michael M. Davis, Jr., Boston, 1917. 

t Winslow, "My Money Won't Reach" Committee on Home 
Economics, Charity Organization Society, April, 1918. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 47 

as great in relative percentages as the increase in 
wages.* 

Perhaps as good an impression of the way wages 
have changed within the last few years can be gathered 
from a copy of the "Report of the Committee on 
War Finance of the American Economic Association" 
given to the writer by its chairman Prof. E. R. A. Selig- 
man. The committee in summarizing the data of wage 
changes for different sections of the country shows "that 
the average increase of laboring men's wages from 1913- 
1918 was somewhere between 40-50%."** In some dis- 
tricts wages advanced from 40-70% but in very many 
others, wages such as those of bakers, hod carriers, 
bricklayers, plasterers, etc., increased but 20%. This 
same committee's report on price changes show the aver- 
age advance "of 75% from 1913-1917 and of 92% to 1918 

* The index number for the relative prices of food alone 
in the United States prepared by the Bureau of Labor Sta- 
tistics shows an average increase from 1913-1917 of 46% where- 
as wages have risen less rapidly. Dr. Kemmerer through the 
courtesy of Dr. Royal Meeker, U. S. Commissioner of Labor 
Statistics was able to give in advance figures regarding the 
Bureaus recently compiled index numbers covering rates of 
wages per hour for union labor in a large number of occu- 
pations throughout the United States. The official figures are 
given in column 1 of the following table, and the same figures 
adjusted to the basis of the average for the period 1910-1914 
as 100 are given in column 2. (See American Economic Re- 
view, Vol. 7, June 1918, p. 265.) 

INDEX NUMBERS OF UNION WAGE RATES 

Year 1 2 

1910 105 96 

1911 107 98 

1912 109 100 

1913 111 102 

1914 114 105 

1915 115 106 

1916 119 109 

1917 127 117 

This shows an increase of 14% in Union wages since 1914, 
as compared to 75% increase in wholesale prices and 46% 
increase in the retail prices of food. 

** Report of the Committee of War Finance, Amer. Econ- 
omic Association, p. 106. 



48 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

for wholesale prices ;"* for retail price changes the com- 
mittee quotes the average increase of 70% given out by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the 77% increase for 
clothing; 45% for fuel and light and 15% for rents — 
quoted by National Industrial Conference Board.** 

The most thorough study of conditions representing 
the standard of living in New York City was made by 
Chapin in 1909. Three hundred ninety-one families were 
studied, of which sixty-nine were Italian — a number that 
was surpassed only by the American and the Russian 
gToups. It can be assumed therefore that the Italian 
families studied are fairly representative of the type to 
be met anywhere in the Italian colonies in the greater 
city. Of the sixty-nine Italian families investigated, 
fifty-seven showed that they possessed annual incomes 
between $600 and $1100, while the average number of 
persons per family was five.f 

INCOMES — There are three chief sources of income 
in the home of which the American of Italian extraction 
forms a part. They are (1) the adult breadwinner (2) 
boarders, (3) the work or labor of this type of Ameri- 
can himself. The adult breadwinner includes both male 
and female workers. An investigation made by the Im- 
migration Commission revealed the fact that of the 
women of Southern Italian families studied, two-thirds 
reported average earnings of less than $200. The writer 
is inclined to think this amount too small because as a 
rule the immigrant worker is suspicious and distrustful 
about making disclosures of this sort. Among the men 
the average yearly wage for the 2000 cases studied was 
found to be between $500 and $600. Another source 
of income as shown by its prevalence among the poorer 
Italian homes is the lodger or boarder. Here though 
the Italian family has a low average compared with 

* Report of the Committee on War Finance, American 
Economic Association, p. 104. 

** Wartime Changes in the Cost of Living, Research Report 
No. 9, Aug. 1918, p. 64. 

t In a study of 200 workingmen's families in New York 
City, Mrs. L. B. More found 6 persons to be the average. 
(Wage-earners Budgets — L. B. More.) 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 49 

other races. Lauck found that excepting for the He- 
brew and Bulgarians, the Southern Italian ranked well 
up with an average of but 33.5% of householders keep- 
ing boarders or lodgers. The Serbian family was high- 
est with an average percentage of 92.8% and was fol- 
lowed closely by the Roumanians with 77.8% respect- 
ively.* 

In a study of over 2000 households these figures were 
largely substantiated in the following:** 
NUMBER AND PERCENT OF HOUSEHOLDS KEEPING 
BOARDERS AND LODGERS 

Households keeping lodgers or boarders 
General nativity Total number 
and race of head of 

household households Number Percent 

Italian. North 653 223 34.2 

Italian, South 1530 512 35.5 

The third and last chief source of income in the Ital- 
ian household occurs when the American of Italian ex- 
traction himself is made to go out and help support the 
family. If this is ever at all necessary it usually begins 
at an early age and is one of the greatest handicaps in 
the development of this type. 

The chief channels open to children of fourteen to 
eighteen are usually the making of artificial flowers, 
working on garments for girls, machine operating, run- 
ning errands, shoeblacking, truckdriving, office work 
and other blind alleys for the boys. Divided among male 
and female it was found that 9.9% of males and 7.3% 
females of these foreign-born children between the ages 
of six and sixteen were at work. For the male this is 
but 2% higher than the average of all nationalities of 
children in New York City gainfully employed as found 
by Prof. Ogburn.*** The percentage of females so em- 
ployed is normal when compared with other nationali- 
ties. 

An age distribution of over 500 Americans of Italian 
extraction found doing work in their tenement homes 

* Lauck and Sydenstricker, "Conditions of Labor in Amer- 
ican Industries," p. 299. 
**Jenks and Lauck, "The Immigration Problem," p. 506. 
***op. cit. p, 3d, 



50 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

by Dr. Stella while making his investigations is the fol- 
lowing: 

CHILDREN FOUND AT WORK IN TENEMENTS 



Number 












AGES 








3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 10 


11 


12 


1314-16T't'l 


Children 




















found at work 1 


3 


21 


23 


44 


45 


76 71 


62 


90 


76 46 558 


Boys 


1 


4 


8 


10 


14 


26 15 


21 


26 


19 8 152 


Girls 1 


2 


17 


15 


34 


31 


56 


41 


64 


57 38 406 


Attending school 




12 


16 


41 


43 


70 68 


59 


82 


67 33 491 


Not Attending 




















school 1 


3 


9 


7 


3 


2 


6 3 


3 


8 


9 13 67 



In this matter of child labor it was found in the in- 
vestigation made by the Immigration Commission that 
the lowest percentage fell to the Italians, namely 13.3%. 
The Germans pressed closely after with 13.9%, and the 
Syrian and Scotch were highest with 22.6% and 19% 
respectively.* 

Of 184 cases of Americans of Italian extraction be- 
tween the ages of fourteen and eighteen studied by the 
Immigration Commission, it was found that the weekly 
wage averaged $6.14 for the boys and $5.54 for the 
girls.** 

A similar investigation conducted among working- 
men's families in Buffalo contained one-fourth of Ital- 
ian families. In 29% the mother's earnings added to 
the income, and the number of cases were fairly evenly 
distributed among the different races with one excep- 
tion. The exception was in the Italian families where 
only one mother was reported as adding to the in- 
come.*** 

In New York City the comparisons afforded in Chap- 
in's study of different nationalities with respect to their 
sources of income "show that the greatest dependence 
on other sources than the father's wages is found among 
the Bohemians, Austrians, and Russians. "f The Italians 
rank better than the average with almost 51% of families 
supported entirely by the father — leading all the other 
racial stocks of the "newer immigration." This is a sub- 
stantial verification of the responses that the symposium 

* Report of Immigration Commission on Manufacturing and 
Mining, Abstract, pp. 194-195. 

**Jenks — "The Immigration Problem" pp. 534-535. 

*** Report on The Standard of Living Among Working Fam- 
ilies in Bufifalo. 

t Chapin, R. C, Standard of Living in New York City, p. 59. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Si 

in Chapter XXV brought out in showing that 18% of 
the contributors attest to the quality or trait of indus- 
triousness as being a marked characteristic of the Ital- 
ian people. 

HOUSING— Of the 3,437,202 people living in New 
York City at the time the Tenement House Commission 
made its investigation 2,372,079 people were occupying 
82,652 tenement houses where there were 350,000 dark 
interior rooms.^ Conditions therefore that we shall de- 
scribe among Italians are GENERAL. An assay of one 
section will reflect truly the general conditions that 
exist in all of the Italian colonies scattered throughout 
the city. Dr. Laidlaw found the housing conditions of 
the Italian district he visited involving 9,353 tenement 
families living in 31,522 rooms, an average of Z.Z7 rooms 
per family. There were eleven blocks of the thirty-two 
he visited with 3,413 families resident without a bath- 
tub. In one of these blocks lived 628 families, mostly 
Italians.* 

Chapin's investigation showed the average size of 
the families that constituted the type he investigated 
to be five, and the average income anywhere from $600- 
$1000. Of this sum $144 or 18% must be paid for rent. 
Compared with conditions in Chicago among Italians we 
see that things are worse here. In Chicago** the me- 
dium rental for a four room apartment was $12.00 to 
$12.50 paid by Italians. This is higher than what is paid 
by any other race and is a condition that is general 
among Italians for less than 15% of such families own 
their own homes. The average number of rooms per 
apartment was found to be 3.64.t The average number 
of occupants per sleeping rooms was 1.42 as compared to 
.93 of native-born white of native father. In New York 
City no existing investigation is available that has feat- 
ured housing expenditures according to nationalities. 
Chapin with reference to his own labors states that the 

JDePorest and Veillier — "Tenement House Problem" Vol. 1, 
p. 3. 

* Federation, Sociological canvass of the fourteenth dis- 
trict (assembly) of the lower east side, June 1900, p. 231. 

** Walker — "Greeks and Italians in the Neighborhood of Hull 
House." 

t Fairchild — "Immigration" p. 136. 



52 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

number of cases is too small to warrant very confident 
assertion. What meagre data were obtainable showed 
that the Italians ranked lowest with an average of 2.6 
for incomes at $600 and 3.9 for incomes at $900.§ 

In the matter of crowding the Italians showed up 
ag'ain badly viz :* 

Total number Number reporting more 
Nationality of families than IJ^ persons Percent 

per room 
U. S. 67 20 30 

Teutonic 39 8 21 

Irish 24 12 SO 

Colored 28 16 57 

Bohemian 14 11 79 

Russian 57 35 61- 

Austrian, etc. 32 21 66 

Italian 57 Zl 65 

318 160 

Jones corroborates these findings, discovering 120 
families housed within 14 buildings and numbering al- 
most 900 people. Supporting these are the figures of 
Dr. Laidlaw who also discovered the Italians at the top 
in this deplorable characteristic with 13.3% of their fam- 
ilies housed in one room. In a study of 76 families out of 
11,546 in New York City where overcrowding was 
found, the Italian distribution showed up as follows :** 



Number of 


Number of 


Number of 


Italian 


families 


persons 


rooms 


nationality 


33 


6 


3 


4 


14 


8 


4 


3 


11 


9 


4 


2 


11 


7 


3 


1 


1 


10 


4 


1 


7 


8 


3 


1 


1 


6 


2 


■ 1 



l(i 54 23 13 

The Italians in this investigation lead with 13.3% of 
overcrowding. The Americans are lowest with but .2%. 
SAVINGS AND THRIFT— Of the families studied by 

§ Chapin — "Standard of Living in New York City" p. 11. 
* Chapin — "Standard of Living in New^ York City," p. 81. 
** Federation. Report of Auxiliary D, Third Sociological Can- 
vass, p. 60. 

See Mrs. L. B. More's investigation of 2200 workingmen's 
families in New York City, Wage-earners Budgets, p. 67. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 53 

Chapin in New York City, the largest percentage report- 
ing a surplus fell to the Italians, viz :* 
Total Number TOTAL 



Nationality of 




Balance within $25 


Surplus 


Deficit 


Families 




No. % 


No. % 


No. % 


U. S. 


€1 


27 40 


15 23 


25 37 


Teutonic 


39 


21 54 


9 23 


9 23 


Irish 


24 


9 38 


7 29 


8 33 


Colored 


28 


9 32 


7 25 


12 43 


Bohemian 


14 


12 86 




2 14 


Russian 


57 


11 19 


29 51 


17 30 


Austrian, etc. 


32 


13 41 


16 50 


3 9 


Italian 


57 


14 25 


33 58 


10 17 


TOTAL 


318 


116 36.5 


116 36.5 


86 27 



How much of this is due purely to thrift, industry, 
and savings, and how much because this type is satis- 
fied to endure a lower standard of living is impossible 
to determine. Industry and thrift, as an overwhelming 
majority of the contributors to the symposium on 
page 252 prove, are innate traits of the Italian family. 
Regarding the second point, the matter of a lower stand- 
ard of living Chapin reports a very favorable finding 
for the Italian viz :** 

NUMBER OF FAMILIES BELOW STANDARD AS RE- 
GARDS FOOD, CLOTHING AND SHELTER 






^ <A ■" _. 






" T."^ l^'O 0*0 "O 

. w «J« *J(U ^<u (u-O 

>i s i^js t^-o p-ra ^ c 

=1 s ^a ^l ^^ l''-^ 

£2 ™ CO Ci_ i-ti !5 7>..J-H 

I ^ ^S =^ §ii §^| 

Jz; iz; ;2;s ;z;o I^;© :z;i; « 

U. S. 67 4 4 7 2 

Teutonic 39 3 2 1 

Irish 24 1 2 6 1 

Colored 28 3 5 8 

Bohemian 14 4 1 

Russian 57 14 18 14 10 

Austrian 32 6 8 13 5 

Italian 57 2 2 31 2 



TOTAL 



OTAL 318 33 45 81 20 

* Chapin — "Standard of Living in New York City," p. 235. 
** Ibid, p. 240. 



54 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

This thrift spirit of the Italians was b}^ Chapin re- 
ported to have resulted in the largest proportion of fam- 
ilies with savings viz :* 

SAVINGS BY NATIONALITIES 

Nationalitjr No. of families Savings 

United States 67 5 

Teutonic 39 14 

Irish 24 1 

Colored 28 6 

Bohemian 14 

Russian 57 19 

Austrian 32 9 

Italian 57 29 

TOTAL 318 83 

This same spirit has left its influence on New York 
City through the fact that of the real estate of New York 
City a conservative estimate is that $100,000,000 of such 
land is today owned by Italians or Americans of Italian 
extraction,** and this is proportionally not as inuch as 
is owned by this same type in St. Louis, Boston, San 
Francisco and elsewhere. 

Lord says that the thrift of the Italian is so exceptional 
that even bootblacks and common laborers sometime 
figure as tenement owners. Italian barbers quite fre- 
quently acquire equities m tenements. There is further 
a rising disposition of the more wealthy merchants 
and fruiterers to invest their earnings in tenements in 
the Italian quarters. f This is born out by G. Tosti, a 
real estate dealer who says that whereas twenty years 
ago there was hardly an Italian real estate owner, today 
one is able to list over 800 in this city alone. 

The war brought forth in a most marked way their 
spirit of saving. In Brooklyn the Italians have organ- 
ized very effectively under the leadership of F. P. Buon- 
ora and enrolled in the aggregate fully one-third of all 
the Italians in Brooklyn for the purpose of "saving" 
through the purchase of War Saving Stamps. Over 200 

* Chapin — "Standard of Living in New York City," p. 243. 
** Sartorio, Henry — "Social and Religious Life of Italians in 
America," p. 20. 

t Lord, Trenor and Barrow^s — "The Italian in America," p. IT . 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 55 

societies were banded together and more than $100,000 
was collected. The best record however that comes to 
light in this connection is that made by the people of 
Italian blood in the north-end district in Boston. Their 
thrift netted them $300,000 for war-savings and 
thrift stamps alone, and to them was awarded a silver 
cup and banner for having made the largest percentage 
of gains in the sales of War Saving Stamps for Suffolk 
County. The Hanover Street Postal Station under the 
able leadership of Law^rence A. Brignati ranked third 
in the country in the amount received in postal 
savings, having on deposit about $100,000,000, of which 
about 85% is to be credited to Italians and their off- 
spring.* In this city the latest reports show Italian 
blood here to have invested $20,000,000 in the last 
Liberty Loan. The savings banks of New York City 
show that $24,000,000 is credited to them. 

The Italian Savings Bank at 64 Spring Street is the 
largest bank of its kind in this city, having a total of de- 
posits amounting to $7,769,064 and a surplus of $453,622. 
Perhaps the bulk of savings owned by Italian speaking 
people not only of this city but for the country at large is 
in the hands of private bankers. Lionello Perera, 69 
Wall Street, probably is the largest and most influential 
Italian private banker in this city, having a working cap- 
ital of almost half a million. M. Berardini, owner of 
the M. Berardini State Bank at 34 Mulberry Street is 
perhaps next with a capital and working surplus amount- 
ing to three-quarters of a million. Others to be men- 
tioned in this connection are the Banca Tocci, Sessa, 
Verrilli, Prisco and Avalona. 

Italian finance in this city is represented by four in- 
stitutions. The Banca Commerciale with a capital of 
twenty-five million is of continental fame. The Credito 
Italiano is represented in this city by Felice Bava, 66 
Broadway. The Banco di Napoli is the oldest Italian 
bank and is capitalized at one hundred and eighteen mil- 
lion lire. Its offices are at Spring and Lafayette Streets. 

Two important features pertaining to Italian finance 

* Boston Chamber of Commerce — Current Affairs, July 15, 
1918, p. 7. 



56 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

in this city are of recent date. One is the purchase by 
the Banca Commerciale of the Lincoln Trust Company. 
The 100,000 shares of this stock were purchased at $80 
above their par value. The other is the opening 
of the new^ Banca Italiana di Sconto with a working 
capital of half a million and jointly controlled by the 
Guaranty Trust and the Italian Discount and Trust Com- 
pany. These two features Luigi Criscuolo believes to be 
"undoubtedly part of a plan whereby commercial credits 
between Italy and American business concerns can be 
facilitated."* The East River National Bank is an Ital- 
ian owned bank. The names of Giannini and Granata 
stand out in this connection, 

* Luigi Criscuolo, former secretary of the Advisory Finance 
Committee, United States Railroad Administration ; II Car- 
roccio, Jan. 1919, p. 68. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 



57 



CHAPTER VII. 

LITERACY 

THE "OLD" VERSUS THE "NEW" GENERATION 
— "Thanks to the excellent public schools of the United 
States and to the compulsory educational laws of many 
of our states, the question of illiteracy is not one of the 
greatest importance in the second generation."* With 
the immigrant however the case is different. The rate 
of synthetization of our racial stocks depends in the 
first instance upon the degree of literacy prevalent. The 
percentage of illiteracy varies greatly among immigrants 
of different countries. The following tables showing the 
different percentages of illiterates among Italians as 
compared with other immigrant stocks were compiled 
from the reports of the Commissioner General of Immi- 
gration and appeared in the Statistical Review of Im- 
migfration. 



ILLITERACY OF EUROPEAN 


IMMIGRANTS 




1899—1910 








Immigrants 14yrs. 


Immigrant ; 


illiterates 




of age and over 


14 yrs. of age and over 


People 




Number 


Percent 


Jewish 


806,786 


209,507 


26.0 


Bohemian and 


Moravian 79,721 


1,322 


1.7 


Croatian 


320,977 


115,785 


36.1 


English 


347,348 


3,648 


1.0 


Finnish 


137,916 


1,745 


1.3 


German 


625,793 


32,236 


5.2 


Greek 


208,608 


55,089 


26.4 


Irish 


416,640 


10,721 


2.6 


Italian, North 


339,301 


38,897 


11.5 


Italian, South 


1,690,376 


911,566 


53.9 


Lithuanian 


161,441 


79,001 


48.9 


Magyar 


307,082 


35,004 


11.4 


Polish 


861,303 


304,675 


35.4 


Ruthenian 


140,705 


76,165 


53.4 


Scandinavian 


530,634 


2,221 


.4 


Scotch 


115,788 


767 


.7 


Slovak 


342,583 


86,216 


24.0 



TOTAL 8,398,624 2,238,801 26.7 

Illiteracy figures for the total immigration to the 

United States show that the Southern Italian leads, 
*Jenks — "The Immigration Problem," p. 33. 



58 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

being surpassed only by the Turk and the Portu- 
guese. Looking at this question in the large, how- 
ever, the authors quoted above conclude that too 
much emphasis must not be laid upon the ques- 
tion of illiteracy since this disadvantage in most cases 
disappears in the second generation, i. e. the type we 
are studying here. When we consider that in Italy 84% 
of the taxes are spent upon the national debt, upon the 
administration, and upon the national defense, leaving 
but 16% for other expenses, we can realize the financial 
predicament that faces the Italian there, for out of this 
16%, only 2.79% may be spent upon education. 

STATUS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT LARGE 
— The School status of Americans of Italian extraction 
for the country at large as compared with other Amer- 
icans was found by the Immigration Commission to be 
as follows : * 
PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS IN THE DIFFERENT GRADES 

OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY GENERAL NATIVITY AND 
RACE OF FATHER OF PUPIL 

•Z 7^ ^ O ffi H 



° ^ O o 

General nativity n "> O o 

and D S S. 3 - 

Race of Father ^- ^ n' 

C? "> 

Native-born White 32 4.3 52.1 34.5 9.1 100.0 

Foreign-born : 

Bohemian 

Danish 

Dutch 

English 

French 

German 

Hebrew, German 

Hebrew, Russian 

Irish 

Italian, North 

Italian, South 

Lithuanian 

Magyar 

Polish 

Portuguese 

Russian 

*Jenks — "The Immigration Problem," p. 306. 



10 


4.2 


61.4 


32.5 


1.9 


100.0 


7 


2.4 


49.8 


42.6 


5.1 


100.0 


3 


4.8 


53.1 


37.3 


4.8 


100.0 


30 


3.2 


50.7 


38.5 


7.7 


100.0 


11 


3.3 


54.7 


36.6 


5.4 


100.0 


29 


4.4 


53.8 


37.2 


4.7 


100.0 


18 


5.4 


48.7 


38.8 


7.8 


100.0 


30 


4.3 


63.1 


30.2 


3.3 


100.0 


31 


3.5 


52.3 


37.4 


6.9 


100.0 


16 


5.8 


69.9 


22.7 


1.6 


100.0 


20 


7.8 


72.7 


18.7 


.8 


100.0 


7 


3.1 


75.3 


20.3 


1.4 


100.0 


5 


7.6 


62.6 


26.4 


8.4 


100.0 


17 


5.8 


72.6 


20.0 


1.6 


100.0 


5 


1.0 


79.6 


18.9 


.5 


100.0 


7 


6.2 


67.8 


21.3 


4.7 


100.0 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 59 

The report of the Immigration Commission on the 
school attendance of over 2,000,000 children of immi- 
grant fathers brought out the fact that Americans of 
Italian blood ranked third in magnitude with a percent- 
age of 6.4 of the whole, being outnumbered by the Jews 
and the Germans.* 

IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS— We see by the foregoing 
that the Southern Italians have the very low percentage 
of .8% of their children in the High Schools. This is 
accounted for in large part by the fact that the vast 
majority of the descendants of Italian immigrants have 
not yet reached the average age of pupils eligible to enter 
High School i. e. 14 years. The other chief contributory 
fact is the very low economic status of the average 
Italian family that makes impossible a continued stay 
of any great length for their children. 

IN THE PRIMARY GRADES— In the primary grades 
the percentage of pupils of Italian blood attending 
jumps to 72.7%, a figure exceeded but by two other ra- 
cial stocks whose numbers in proportion are incompar- 
ably smaller; in the kindergarten the percentage is 78 % 
and is the highest. The only lesson these figures offer 
is the stressing of the comparative recency of Italian 
immigration as a movement "en masse." 

RETARDATION AT LARGE— More significant than 
mere numbers of school attendance though is the con- 
dition of affairs reg^arding retardation or the percentage 
of pupils of a race older than the normal age for that 
grade, and the reason for that abnormality. It was 
assumed in the instance of the study made throughout 
the entire country by the Immigration Commission cov- 
ering thousands of cases of descendents of immigrants 
of all stocks, that seven years was the normal age for 
the first grade, eleven for the fifth, and fourteen for 
the eighth. It was found that the average retardation 
for all foreign-born races was 36%, a scant margin above 
the 34.1% representing the average for all white chil- 
dren of native stock.** 

Different races, tho, show marked fluctuations and the 
type under surveillence here achieved the unenviable pre- 

* Reports of the Immigration Commission, Vols. 29-33. 
**Jenks and Lauck, "The Immigration Problem," p. 308. 



60 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

eminence with 48.6% followed closely by the Poles and 
French-Canadians with 48.1% and 43.1% respectively. 
The Finns made the best showing with but 27.7% of re- 
tardation. If one were to go into the details beyond 
the data disclosed, he would get some interesting in- 
formation.* A study of 46,846 pupils of the types above 
mentioned was made and marked differences were found 
between those whose foreign-born fathers could, and 
those who could not speak English. In the case of the 
German pupils whose fathers spoke English, 31.7% were 
retarded; of those whose fathers did not, 40.6% were 
retarded.! The Americans of Italian extraction showed 
59.2% of retardation for those who came from homes 
where English was spoken and 72.7% where it was not.$ 

Similarly with respect to whether or not English is 
spoken at home ; of the Germans early in migration to 
this country, 30.4% are retarded where English is 
spoken and 37.4% where it is not ; the American of Ital- 
ian extraction had 56% of retardation where English 
is spoken at home and 67.3% where it is not.§ 

A very bad showing though for this type is to be had 
when we consider retardation as existing between those 
who attend school regularly and those who do not. It 
was shown that with pupils of eight years or more who 
attended school three-fourths or more of the time, the 
degree of retardation for the children of native-born 
whites was 26.2% ; where they attended less than three- 
fourths of the time this percent rose to 43.9%. Of the 
Americans of Italian extraction the percentage of those 
in the first instance was found to be 56%, and in the 
latter 85.6%. Here again Jenks adds "the fact that 

* In extenuation of the above figures, the authors making 
the study add that altho opinions were asked of the teachers 
as to the excuses for retardation, the answers were not defi- 
nite enough to be tabulated. The figures show tho, that in- 
ability of the father to speak English and the use of a foreign 
language at home are very important factors. Races making 
up the "newer" immigration show higher percents of retarda- 
tion. Retardation is also due to ill health, late entrance to 
school, mental defects, etc. 

t ibid. p. 309. 

tibid. p. 309. 

§ ibid. p. 309. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 61 

children of certain races show a greater degree of re- 
tardation than others is not necessarily a sign of less 
mental ability but rather of some external circumstances, 
that in another generation may entirely disappear." 

RETARDATION IN NEW YORK CITY— Touching 
on conditions in New York City the findings exhibited 
above for the country at large are generally substan- 
tiated. In speaking of the mentality of the Italians and 
particularly of the Southern Italians from whence this 
large percentage of illiteracy and of retardation is de- 
rived Mangano says "The Southern Italian is illiterate 
but not unintelligent. Northern Italians have as low a 
percent of illiteracy as 11.8 and are outranked by but 
four other nationalities i. e. the Scandinavians with .4%, 
the English with 1.1%, the Irish with 2.7%, and the Ger- 
mans with 5.3%." In all of these excepting the last, 
the difficulty of mastering a new language as exists with 
the Italian does not obtain. This percent of 11.8 is but a 
fraction higher than the average of the illiteracy of the 
general population of the United States which is 10%. 

In New York City the average daily attendance of 
pupils in the public schools according to the latest avail- 
able reports from the Supt. of Schools is shown to be 
721,136. The percentage of pupils of foreign-born fa- 
thers was 71.5% of the total attendance. Of this the 
Americans of Italian extraction represent 30.1% or ap- 
proximately 200,000 of the total school-going popula- 
tion of this city. 

Concerning retardation among pupils of Italian origin 
in our schools here, we have some very interesting data. 
Dr. Ayres made a study of fifteen nationalities in fifteen 
New York City schools and took 20,000 records. He 
found the American of Italian extraction to lead in re- 
tardation, viz :* 

Nationality Percent recorded 

German 16 

American 19 

Mixed 19 

Russian 23 

English 24 

Irish 29 

Italian 36 

* Ayres, Leonard P. Laggards in Our City Schools. Russell 
Sage Foundation. 



62 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Dr. Ayres adds however, by way of comment on these 
figures that "opinions may differ radically as to the sig- 
nificance of these figures." The conclusion is that while 
the nationality factor has a distinct bearing on the prob- 
lem of retardation and elimination, there is no evidence 
that these problems are most serious in those cities hav- 
ing the largest foreign population. 

Dr. Van Denburg who also studied the causes of the 
elimination of students in public secondary schools of 
New York City has some interesting figures regarding 
the distributions of pupils studying there. His figures 
by nationality of pupils attending the High Schools of 
New York City show that the Italians of whom there 
is a constantly increasing number in that city, send 
more boys than girls to High School. The ratio is ap- 
proximately three boys to two girls. This is shown in 
the following table, viz : 

TOTAL HIGH SCHOOL ATTENDANCE ARRANGED BY 
PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES 



Parentage of Pupil 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


American, White 


4,666 


6,610 


11,276 


Russian, Hebrew 


1,661 


1,354 


3,015 


German 


1,330 


1,443 


2,773 


Irish 


618 


1,043 


1,661 


German, Hebrew 


624 


652 


1,276 


English 


323 


598 


921 


Italian, North and South 


342 


197 


539 


Scotch 


140 


244 


384 


Polish, Hebrew 


171 


165 


336 


Swedish 


101 


164 


265 


Roumanian, Jew 


143 


110 


253 


Canadian, English 


84 


131 


215 


American, Negro 


78 


123 


201 


Danish 


47 


130 


177 


French 


67 


103 


170 


Montenegrin 


49 


76 


125 


Russian 


36 


87 


123 


Magyar 


67 


53 


120 


Bohemian 


51 


31 


82 


Spanish 


38 


34 


72 


Polish 


35 


31 


66 


Holland, Dutch 


18 


23 


41 


Canadian, French 


13 


25 


38 


Welsh 


7 


24 


31 


Roumanians 


13 


8 


21 


Austrians 


9 


11 


20 


Scattering foreign 


66 


59 


125 


Unclassified foreign Hebrew 


666 


458 


1,124 



TOTAL 11,463 13,987 25,460 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 6^ 

Comparing the percentage of population in New York 
City at large with the percentage represented in the 
High School, Dr. Van Denburg finds the Irish most 
poorly represented. With 19% of the population they 
furnish but 6.5% of the total High School registration. 
Next come the Italians making up 6.4% of the popula- 
tion and furnishing but 3.1% of the High School pupils. 

GENERAL POPULATION VERSUS HIGH SCHOOL 
POPULATION* 

Countries of Origin Numbers Percentages 

High School General High School General 
Population Population Population Population 



United States 


11,477 


907,351 


45.1 


26.4 


Germany 


4,049 


735,992 


15.9 


21.4 


Russia 


3,166 


240,805 


12.4 


7.0 


Ireland 


1,661 


649,302 


6.5 


18.9 


England 


921 


116,044 


3.6 


3.4 


Italy 


539 


217,920 


3.1 


6.4 


Poland 


392 


51,621 


1.5 


1.5 


Scotland 


384 


37,668 


1.5 


1.1 


Sweden 


265 


41,234 


1.0 


1.2 


Canada, English 


215 


19,623 


.8 


.6 


Denmark 


177 


8,223 


.6 


2 


France 


170 


23,203 


.6 


.7 


Norway 


125 


16,746 


.5 


.5 


Canada, French 


38 


3,899 


.1 


.1 


Wales 


31 


3,119 


.1 


.1 


Other Countries 


1,942 


361,472 


7.6 


10.5 



TOTAL 25,452 3,434,222 100.0 100.0 

THE PRESENT NEED— When the Immigration 
Commission made its report, it found less than 100 teach- 
ers of Italian blood in the public schools. In New York 
City there were 17 teachers of parents from the North 
of Italy, 8 from the South and 7 not specified, in all less 
than .1% of the total number of teachers of foreign 
lineage in this city. Today, according to Dr. Vittorio 
Racca, president of the Italian Teachers Association this 
mark has more than been doubled. Nevertheless on a 
pro-rata scale, or compared with the number of children 
of Italian origin in this city, the one great deficiency 
with respect to providing an incentive necessary to 

* Van Den Burg, Dr. J. K. — "Causes of Elimination of Stu- 
dents in Public Schools (Secondary)" p. 36, 



64 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

raising the low percentage of pupils of Italian origin in 
the schools of this city is the lack of teachers among 
their own kind. If there were a large well-knit and 
actively operating corps of public school teachers of Ital- 
ian origin interested in visiting the homes and families 
of the great masses of Italian-speaking people in this 
city, the great stopping-off place between the public and 
the hioh school would cease to exist. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 65 

CHAPTER VIII 

CITIZENSHIP 

OBSTACLES TO CITIZENSHIP— Ignorance of the 
language is perhaps the greatest bar to citizenship. With 
the ItaHan another factor enters, namely, the tendency 
to return to Italy. Fully 30% of these immigrants go 
back to the homeland after they have accumulated some 
"savings." Taking the period of 1905-1910 as an ex- 
ample, we note the following proportions of returning 
immigrants.* 

1905—31% 1908—34% 

1906—38% 1909—30% 

1907—62% 1910—42% 

Because of this tendency the state of affairs found in 
1898 when out of 16,000 workmen engaged in the con- 
struction of the Erie Canal 15,000 were unnaturalized, is 
not surprising.** This is not the whole story however. 
Fully 15% who returned to Italy with their savings are 
inevitably found among those who come to America the 
following year, viz : 

PREVIOUSLY ADMITTED ITALIAN SPEAKING 
IMMIGRANTS— 1899-1910 
Number In United States previously 
People Admitted Number Percent admitted 

Italian, North 372,668 56,738 15.2 

Italian, South 1,911,933 262,508 13.7 

But both these factors are absent in the case of the 
offspring. Many of these individuals do not speak Ital- 
ian as well as they do English, and a few speak no Ital- 
ian at all. The majority, not having known Italy, have 
no desire to go there and reside permanently. 

RELATION OF IMMIGRANT TO NATIVE VOTE— 
The importance of immigrant races as possible voters is 
greater than their importance in proportion to the popu- 
lation. This is so because males come in greater numbers 
than do females. For instance 10,000,000 foreign-born 
population furnishes 5,000,000 males of voting age, but 

* Stella, Dr. Antonio— "Assicurzione Obbligatoria Degli Emi- 
granti contro la Tuberculosi," p. 15. 
**New York Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1898, p. 1155. 



66 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

66,000,000 native population furnishes only 16,000,000 
males of voting age. This is to say one-half of the foreign 
born and only one-quarter of the native-born are po- 
tential voters.* Of the foreign-born population two- 
thirds have either become citizens or have declared their 
intentions in 1900. Probably the proportion of native- 
white who did not vote was 15% of the total number 
while the percentage of the foreign-born who did not 
was over 40%.** This last proportion however varies 
with different races. Commons thinks that it is not so 
much a difference in willingness as it is a difference in 
appreciation. To be naturalized one must live in the 
country five years. The census authorities found that 
whereas 40% of those who had been here six to nine 
years have not declared their intentions of becoming 
citizens, only 7% of those who had been here twenty 
years had retained allegiance to their former govern- 
ment. 

The "older immigration" represented by the German 
and Irish stocks have greater political significance be- 
cause of this when compared with the "newer immigra- 
tion," the Italians, Slavs, and Russian Jews. While but 
7 to 13% of the foreign immigration are aliens, from 
35 to 60% of the immigration from Southern Europe are 
aliens and therefore have no influence through the fran- 
chise. Time however will reduce this disparity very ap- 
preciably. The percentage of Italians that are citizens 
as found by the Immigration Commission in a represent- 
ative investigation covering more than 8000 cases is : 

NUMBER PERCENT 

Race No. reporting Fully First Fully First 

complete data Naturalized Papers Naturalized Papers 

Italian, North 4,069 1,028 834 25.3 20.5 

Italian, South 3,811 597 547 15.7 14.4 

This percentage of 25.3 true in the case of the North- 
ern Italian surpassed the percentages found in this in- 
vestigation for other numerous immigrants from South 
Eastern Europe. The Russian Hebrew had but 22.7% ; 
the Lithuanian 21.1%; the Poles 19%; the Russian 

* Commons — "Races and Immigrants in America," p. 191. 
** "Twelfth Census Abstract," p. 18. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 67 

15.1%; the Slovak 12.1%. Further investigations have 
shown that 111,696 out of a total of 145,333 persons born 
in Italy were naturalized in 1900. 

CITIZENSHIP STATUS IN NEW YORK CITY— In 
speaking of the contribution to citizenship that the Ital- 
ian makes to America, Roberts says, "The Italians are 
old at the game of politics. In the seventeenth and the 
eighteenth centuries they furnished political leaders to 
every country in Europe."* Lord on the same subject 
says, "The innate bent for politics of the Italian is 
strongly marked and nowhere is this more plainly shown 
than in America in spite of the common handicaps of un- 
familiarity with our language and the absorbing de- 
mands of the struggle to earn a living. He is quick to 
comprehend the use and possible force of his ballot here, 
and is eager to become naturalized. This is signally 
shown in the extraordinary percentage of naturalized 
Italians in comparison with the total number of Italians 
in New York City. The carefully prepared records of 
the Commission established by the Italian Chamber of 
Commerce showed that 191,289 of the 225,026 persons of 
Italian parentage then living in the city were either born 
or naturalized Americans comprehending 83.4% of the 
total Italian population."** 

Today this percentage is even higher for approxi- 
mately 200,000 Italians of those who were unnaturalized 
have returned to Italy to fight. These represent a lot 
almost hand-picked from the unnaturalized group so 
that it would not be greatly out of the way if we said 
that perhaps of all the immigrant groups representing 
the "newer immigration" the greatest percentage of 
naturalized citizens belongs to the Italian group. 

Notwithstanding the frequent disparaging remarks 
made about the "Italian vote being a joke" by city poli- 
ticians, or past criticism that the Italian has a constitu- 
tional defection regarding the qualities of political ge- 
nius, we have testimony of two men who are in a posi- 
tion to know, pointing to the contrary. George B. Mc- 

* Roberts, Peter — "The Newer Immigration," p. 256. 
** Lord, Trenor and Barrows — "The ItaHan in America," p. 
223-224. 



68 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Clellan for seven years Mayor of New York City and 
whose last (1909) election could have been swung one 
way or the other according as the Italian vote was cast 
says, "Already we are beginning to feel the good effect 
of our schools upon our foreign-born population. Take 
the Italian . . . the number of them that are taking out 
citizenship papers is increasing every year. They make 
good citizens." The present incumbent of this office 
says, "The Italians in this city are among our best citi- 
zens and are held in great respect."* 

THE PLACE OF THE WOMAN OF ITALIAN 
BLOOD — There is at present no way of telling how the 
girl or woman of Italian blood is going to take to her 
newly acquired citizenship and right to vote. As Dr. 
Van Denburg has shown, the Italian sends his boys to 
the city's High Schools in the ratio of three to every 
one girl that attends. The strong family ties of the 
Italian home are against and look with disfavor upon 
any and all worldly activities tending to break these 
bonds. Nevertheless Miss Elvira Barra, Italian District 
Leader in the Little Italy Harlem Colony, from her ac- 
tual experience recently said, "These people have 
changed — the older woman who at first shrugged her 
shoulders at the thought of voting has become enthu- 
siastic. I have reached the mothers through the younger 
generation who can read and write. "f This is one of 
the new and fertile fields yet unexplored as it is even 
with many men. As Prof. Steiner says, "Perhaps the 
greatest problem still to be solved is how to interpret 
the one supreme gift which most men never possessed 
— the right of citizenship."** 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ITALY AND AMER- 
ICA — In passing it is well to make mention of the dif- 
ferent attitude regarding the matter of citizenship that 
exists between the two governments — Italy and Amer- 
ica. Italy holds that the children of any subject no mat- 
ter where these children are born, take the status of the 

* Letter from Mayor John F. Hylan to F. P. Buonora, Sept. 
10, 1918. 
t New York Evening Telegram — Sept. 8, 1918. 
** Steiner, E. A.— "The Immigrant Tide," p. 199. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 69 

parent. The United States holds that the individual de- 
cides this for himself and that the place of birth is a 
factor. Speaking for the people themselves it is safe 
to say that the majority of Italians come here to 
stay and willingly take on the obligations in order to 
exercise the privilege of American citizenship. A con- 
crete instance of the way that Americans of Italian ex- 
traction and naturalized Americans from Italy have 
lived up to these obligations is shown in the present war. 
"20% or 70,000 of the total voluntary enlistments around 
Boston at the beginning of the war were of Italian 
blood."* The American of Italian extraction is an Amer- 
ican and considers himself such. The difficulty that arises 
in relation to Italy is one of long standing and apparently 
due to the rigidity of the Italian constitution. In this 
instance it is illuminating to quote from a speech of the 
former Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Tom- 
maso Tittoni given in the Chamber of Deputies at the 
March 3rd, 1905 sitting: 

"practically, from the Italian point of viev/, the 
question (naturalization) presents itself as follows: 
our Civil Code establishes at Article 4 that the son 
of a father who is an Italian citizen is himself an 
Italian citizen, and at Article II it declares that, 
whoever has obtained naturalization in a foreign 
land loses his Italian citizenship. Therefore the 
Italian subject who has fixed his residence in the 
United States finds himself confronted with this 
alternative : either to remain faithful to his nation- 
ality of origin and renounce those political and ad- 
ministrative rights which, in the great centers of 
emigration, would be the most efficient means of 
influence and protection of his interests ; or else to 
accept the nationalitv of the country he resides in, 
losing de jure and de facto his Italian citizenship. 
"... inasmuch as regards the avoiding of pos- 
sible conflict negotiations have been opened with 
the United States of America with the purpose of 
endeavouring to regulate by fixed rules all those 

* Prof. James Geddes, Jr., From his contribution to the 
Symposium, p. 272. 



70 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

cases which could give occasion to such conflict. 
After having reached a certain point, however, it 
has been impossible to proceed with these negotia- 
tions on account of the manifest reluctance of the 

United States. In order to satisfy Senator 

aspirations on the subject of naturalization it would 
be necessary to modify our Civil Code. It is a grave 
and arduous question upon which I can not commit 
myself ; but since it has been so often raised I will 
have it examined by a Commission of Jurists and 
Sociologists acting in colleague with the Minister 
of Grace and Justice."* 
This matter still remains to-day as it was left then by 
the Italian Foreign Minister with the result that no 
American of Italian extraction may go to Italy except- 
ing that his father has been naturalized before his birth, 
without fear of being taken up as an Italian subject. 
In this matter of citizenship it is coming to be a 
great source of racial pride and loyalty among the 
Italians and the Jews as well as with other races to 
place thelnselves on an equality with those who assume 
superiority over new-comers. They wish to escape the 
contempt with which the ignorant treat foreigners. As 
Woods puts this "they crave the full round of American 
experience . . . soon they realize that their children are 
to be Americans and this makes American citizenship 
more clearly their own destiny . . . the word REPUB- 
LICAN is one that the Italian is familiar with and it has 
inspiring associations for him. They make good polit- 
ical workers. They organize effectively."** 

* Senator Tittoni Tommaso, Italy's Foreign and Colonial 
Policy (Memorial Volume dedicated to Rt. Hon. A. Balfour, 
translated by Baron Bernardo Quaranta di San Severino, 
p. 168-9. 

** Woods, R. A. — "Americans in Process," p. 138. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 71 

CHAPTER IX. 
PHILANTROPHY AND SOCIAL WELFARE 

INTRODUCTION— It has been found that there are 
two periods when the immigrant is most in need of re- 
lief. The first occurs when he has landed and follows 
from the fact that he has a slender store of savings upon 
which to depend. Among the Jews in New York City 
the United Hebrew Charities Society office stated that 
7% of the total Jewish immigration found it necessary 
to apply for relief within one year. According to the 
reports of the two chief agencies in New York City that 
offer relief to Italian immigrants we find that the num- 
bers run into the thousands. The Italica Gens took care 
of 27,861 cases during a period of eight years and the 
San Raffaele almost a thousand every year. 

In New York City during the year 1917 for the Italian 
element 117 men and 23 women and no children under 
16 years of age applied for relief; in 1916 (a year of in- 
dustrial depression) there were 10,035 men, 187 women 
and no children. Roughly speaking the average for 
persons of Italian blood was a little over 1% of the total 
number of persons who applied to the Municipal Lodg- 
ing House for relief.* Private agencies of relief cor- 
roborate this low finding of approximately 1%.** 

Relief of this sort however, is temporary, for unless 
the immigrant becomes self-supporting soon, the law 
makes him liable to deportation. The other occasion 
when such a one is most liable to need assistance is after 
he has spent some years in this country. He has then 
exhausted his native fund of physical vigor and lost his 
former elasticity of youth and so becomes unable to 
struggle against those who are fit and who adapt them- 
selves into our industrial system. 

Individuals of this sort represent a chronic state of 

♦From original data furnished by the Secretary of the De- 
partment of Charities. 

**Wm. L. Butcher, Supt. Brace Memorial Home, New York 
City. 



72 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

dependency which naturally affects their children. It 
has been found that of all the foreign-born heads in 
cases cared for by charity organization societies 38% 
had been in the United States twenty years or more and 
70.7% ten years.* 

The percentage of cases reported by the Charity Or- 
ganization Society to the Immigration Commission for 
the country showed the North Italian to have made the 
best showing with a percentage of but 25.6%.** Like 
the Jew, the Italian sees to it that he does not tax un- 
duly the state into which he migrates. 

DEPENDENCY — ^With respect to the causes of de- 
pendency among Italians it is interesting to compare 
their status with other nationalities :f 

Cause Italian Irish English German Jews 

Neglect or bad habits 

of breadwinner 8.7 20.9 14.0 15.7 12.6 

Lack of employment 67.8 34.8 63.3 58.1 

In the first instance the Italians show up best ; in the 
latter there is but a slight preponderence in their dis- 
favor due chiefly to the fact that they represent the 
"newer immigration." 

The American of Italian extraction comes from a 
home that knows little of what it is to be dependent 
upon others. Yet this can scarcely be said to be the 
common impression of most people. Too often the Ital- 
ian is accused of being a characteristic beggar. Riis 
in "How the Other Half Lives" said on this point, "It 
is curious to find preconceived notions quite upset in a 
review of the nationalities that go to make up our squad 
of street beggars. The Irish lead off the list with 15% 
and the native American is only a little way behind him 
with 12%, while the Italian has less than 2%. The Ger- 
mans constitute 8%." The analysis of the Bureau of 
Immigration confirms this. The Irish in the charitable 
institutions of the country compose 30% ; the Germans 
19% ; the English 8.5%, while the Hebrew and the Ital- 
ians both have 8%. 

* "Paupers in Almhouses," p. 101. 
** Fairchild — "Immigration," p. 322. 
t Associated Charities of Boston — 23rd Annual Report. 



Countries 


Mai 


United States 


355 


Ireland 


808 


England and Wales 


111 


Scotland 


25 


France 


19 


Germany- 


290 


Norway, Denmark and Sweden 


22 


Italy 


15 


Other Countries 


50 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 73 

Other authorities follow the same strain, viz : "The 
variation in the number of Italians applying for relief 
is interesting. 54 families came to us in 1891 and only 
69 last year though the Italian population had increased 
15,000."* In New York State the data submitted in the 
35th Annual Report of the State Board of Charities by 
the Hon. John W. Keller, President of the Department 
of Public Charities for New York City, contained the 
following tables : 

TABLE A 
(Showing nativity of persons admitted to almshouses) 

Female Total 

199 554 

809 1,617 

87 198 

14 39 

2 21 

84 374 

6 28 

4 19 

36 86 

TOTAL 1,695 1,241 2,936 

TABLE B 
(Nativity of those admitted to incurable hospitals) 

Countries 
United States 
Ireland 
England 
Poland 
Germany 
Italy 

TOTAL 17 13 30 

TABLE C 
(Nativity of those admitted to blind asylums) 

Countries 
United States 
Ireland 
England 
Germany 
Italy 

TOTAL 89 8 97 

♦Associated Charities of Boston— 23rd Annual Report. 



Male 


Female 


Total 


7 


4 


11 


5 


6 


11 


1 


1 


2 




1 


1 


4 




4 




1 


1 



Male 


Female 


Total 


45 


4 


49 


36 


3 


39 


3 




3 


4 


1 


5 


1 




1 



74 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Other data available regarding the Italians in New 
York City are the "statistics for a representative year 
showing that out of every 28,000 Italians in the city of 
New York there was only one in the almshouses on 
Blackwells Island; while out of every 28,000 Irish there 
were 140."* Mr. James Forbes, Chief of the Mendi- 
cancy Department of the Charity Organization Society 
says that he has never seen or heard of an Italian tramp. 
The fact that for actual dependency this strain repre- 
sents but one percent of the city's pauper population is 
the other side of the almost universal recognition of his 
industry and thrift. 

DELINQUENCY — The subject of crime in discussing 
newer types in our population is often connected with 
the problem of the pauper. The only study that any 
court of record in the United States ever made with 
race differences serving as a basis was in New York 
City. In 1909 the Court of Special Sessions upon the 
instigation of the Immigration Commission investigated 
over 2200 cases that came before it and demonstrated the 
futility of attempting to prove any relation between im- 
migration and crime. Their conclusions were that no 
satisfactory answer could be found to the questions: (1) 
Is the volume of crime in the United States augmented 
by the presence of the immigrant and his offspring? and 
(2) if immigrants increase crime, what races are re- 
sponsible for such increase? Not only did this investi- 
gation conducted among immigrants and their offspring 
in New York City find no basis for the common notion 
that the Italian race furnishes the highest percentage of 
those filling our jails but in the words of the committee 
making the investigation "immigrants are less prone to 
commit crime than the native American."** Changes, 
however, are noticed in the character of crimes com- 
mitted. In the matter of crimes committed against the 
person the Italians lead but as is usual with such crime 
statistics for the whole United States, no differentiation 
is made between the Italian proper, who has come here 

*Ed. by Willard Price— World Outlook, Oct. 1917. 

** Report of Immigration Commission — Immigration and 
Crime Abst, 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 75 

and his offspring, the American of Italian extraction 
who was born here. As it is but three percent of crimes 
committed by Itahans for murder are convictions.* 

This whole question of crime among both the Italian 
immigrant and his descendants needs more careful study 
than has been accorded in the past.** Some time in 
the future when we know the Italian nature better, we 
will appreciate what Dr. Prelini, Professor of Engineer- 
ing in Manhattan College has in mind when he says, 
"The contribution of the Italian toward American de- 
mocracy are sincerity of purpose, and the greatest re- 
spect for justice, which are the essentials of true de- 
mocracy; they hate hypocrisy; the respect for justice is 
so deeply rooted in the Italian mind that many crimes 
are committed to redress suffered wrongs. Under this 
point of view even the crimes committed indicate a mis- 
applied respect for justice among the lower classes of 
Italians."*** 

An interesting and instructive attempt has been made 
by Lord, Trenor and Barrows to set in its true light the 
apparently mistaken conception that some people have 
with respect to the so-called innate trait of criminality 
among Italians. These authors go on to say, "A careful 
examination of police records secured from every city 
in this country where nationalities are distributed in the 

* Mangano, Antonio, Sons of J^taly, p. 122. 

** The fact that Prof. Bailey in a study of juvenile delin- 
quency in New Haven found the American of Italian extraction 
to constitute 47.7% of the total number arraigned though ac- 
cording to the 1910 census only 15.7% of the total number of 
the native-born population of foreign parentage were of this 
nationality carries but little weight. New Haven has a popu- 
lation of but 133,605 (1910 census) and in no wise can be con- 
strued as constituting an example that is indicative of a con- 
dition that is general.. It is interesting to note in this con- 
nection that this same investigation was extended to New 
Britain, a typical manufacturing town with a population of 
approximately 50,000 and of the total number of native-born 
delinquents of foreign extraction that appeared before the 
courts of this state, not one was of Italian blood. Bailey, Wm. 
B. — "Children Before the Courts of Connecticut." Children's 
Bureau, Department of Labor. Bureau Publication No. 43, 
p. 11. 

*** Contribution to symposium, infra Chapter 25. 



l(i THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

records of arrest does not justify the assumption that 
the criminal tendencies of the Italians exceed the aver- 
age of the foreign or of the native population. It must 
be born in mind that no comparison is valid w^hich does 
not take into account the factor of age and relative pro- 
portion of males to females. Yet in Boston, Providence 
and even in other cities attracting the greater part of 
the Italian immigration the percentage of arrests of 
Italian foreign-born is less than the average for the 
total foreign-born," viz : 

COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGES OF ARRESTS BE- 
TWEEN ITALIAN AND OTHER NATIONALITIES* 





c 








c 


u^ ^ 




o 








o , .2 


M-4 j_, 




c'Z 




c 




talian t 
oreign- 
lopulat 


,« ^ 




3. o 


(U en 


as 


o 

il> tn 


C/3 •.-■ 

1;; « 




Z- o. 


•^ Vr, 


•^ t;! 


hH •+-1 (J. 


rt c3 


u 


2° 






as 


%of 
total 
born 


O'rt 


Boston 


197,129 


19,952 


13,738 


1,219 


7.0 


6.1 


Providence 


55,855 


3,902 


6,252 


422 


11.02 


10.8 



It w^ill be noted, these authors ero on to sav. that in 
both the cities cited the record of arrests is for 1903, or 
three years later than the census population count. The 
Italian influx has raised materially the percentage of 
total Italian born, hence the strictly correct comparison 
v^^ould be more notably to their advantage. But since 
1904 the year when Lord w^rote, fully a million Italian 
immigrants have entered and this serves to push still 
further down the already low percentage. These au- 
thors say that in Paterson and other cities in New Jersey 
containing a considerable proportion of Italians like 
Newark, Elizabeth, etc., the comparison is still more 
favorable on the side of the Italians. 

These local figures are corroborated by those for the 
country at large. The Italian strain in 1910 while con- 
stituting 10.1% or the second largest racial group of 
foreign born population furnished only 7.1% of the total 

* Prepared from tables in "The Italian in America" by Lord, 
Trenor and Barrows. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 11 

number of foreign-born prisoners and juvenile delin- 
quents. The most frequent offenders were of Irish ex- 
traction making up 26.9% of the total and with a ratio 
of commitments in proportion to their numbers twice 
as frequent as the Italians. Of the seventeen nation- 
alities studied on the basis of commitments the Italians 
took the astonishingly high rank (considering common 
notions) of being twelfth down from the top or worst 
position. The countries listed according to highest ra- 
tios are: 

RANK OF COUNTRY WITH RESPECT TO THE RATIO* 
OF COMMITMENTS** 

Mexico 1 

Ireland 2 

Scotland 3 

Austria 4 

England & Wales 5 

Canada, English 6 

Sweden 7 

Norway 8 

Canada, French 9 

France 10 

Poland 11 

ITALY 12 

Russia 13 

Hungary 14 

Denmark 15 

Germany 16 

Switzerland 17 

When we come to consider the nature of offense com- 
mitted we come to what has always been a knotty prob- 
lem. Here again the figures offered are for the entire 
country. We have what in the face of things looks like 
a blasting indictment because in crimes committed 
against the person i. e. assault, the Italian strain shows 
up at the top with the highest rate of any. The figures 
are : 

*The ratio referred to is the number of foreign born white 
prisoners and juvenile delinquents committed in 1910 per 100,000 
white population born in the same country. 

** Report on Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents. Bureau 
of Census 1919, p. 128. 



78 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

PRISONERS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENTS COMMITTED 

FOR ASSAULT* 

1910 

Nationality Number Percentage Ratio§ of 

Commitment 

ITALY 903 12.8 67.2 

Hungary 243 10.6 49.0 

Poland 487 9.7 51.9 

Austria 595 8.6 70.4 

Russia 433 i:] 36.6 

Other Countries 331 6.6 44.3 

One must be cautious however in interpreting the sig- 
nificance of such figures as the above. The figures cited 
by the census authorities are based on the total number of 
offenders and not on the total population, or to use the words 
of Dr. Joseph A. Hill, Expert Special Agent, who pre- 
pared this report, "The figures above do not necessarily 
mean that in proportion to their numbers in the total 
population the Italians are committed for assault more 
frequently than other nationalities."** 

In New York City however, the figures Lord was able 
to collect showed slightly to their disadvantage as was 
to be expected, viz :*** 

Total foreign -born population 1,270,080 

Total born in Italy 145,433 

Italian percentage of total foreign-born population 11.5% 

Total arrests for foreign-born 59,077 

Total arrests of Italian nationality 7,307 

Percentage of arrests of Italian nationality 12.3% 

In further explanation of the above the authors point 
out that there is at the outset a deduction to be made 
for discharges and acquittals ; that the arrests made are 
largely for breaches of city ordinances such as peddling 
without a license, etc. 

Lord shows the injustice in past attempts operating 

* Compiled from tables in "Report on Prisoners and Juvenile 
Delinquents." Bureau of Census, 1919, pp. 130-131. 

§ Number committed per 100,000 white population born in 
the same country. 

** Compiled from tables in "Report on Prisoners and Juve- 
nile Delinquents." Bureau of Census, 1919, p. 130. 

*** Lord, Trenor and Barrows — "The Italian in America." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 79 ^ 

to jack up the figures showing Italian criminality to be 
higher than the average through the device of dropping 
from the record all crimes resulting from drunkenness. 
Such an instance is the following: A report had been 
prepared by the Immigration Restriction League based 
upon the criminal record of Italians in Massachusetts. 
Now Massachusetts is the one state that has made the 
most thoro examination of the whole question of in- 
temperance as related to crime, and the report showed 
that about 87% of all crimes committed in Massachusetts 
grow out of intemperance of some form. The Italian 
population of Boston and of Massachusetts show a 
higher percentage of arrests than all the races from 
Northern Europe ; but while three in any one hundred 
cases of the Northern races including the Scotch-Irish, 
the English, and the Germans were arrested for intem- 
perance, only three in one thousand cases of the Italians 
were so arraigned. In fact, from the investigation made 
by the Committee of Fifty of nearly 30,000 cases in the 
records of Organized Charity, the Italians had the re- 
markably low percentage of 3.5, while the Irish and the 
English showed 25%, Americans 24%, and the Ger- 
mans 24%.* 

The following excerpt taken from the Joliette Prison 
Post, a paper edited by prisoners of the Illinois State 
Penitentiary will attest to the universal rather than the 
national trait of wrong-doing among human individuals, 
viz : 

"One of the most popular but highly erroneous be- 
liefs of the day is that illiteracy and crime are 
closely related. It is customary to plead for a 
wrongdoer that he did not enjoy the advantage of 
an education when young. Quite recently a survey 
was made of the prisoners in the State Penitentiary 
which served to upset some of these cherished no- 
tions." 

"In a total population of 1886, it was found that 
1181 had received a major portion of an elementary 
education and only 309 were illiterate. There were 

*Koren, John— '^'Economic Aspects of the L4quor Fvohktn," 



80 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

29 University graduates on the roll, and 106 High 
School graduates. The survey was made by a man 
convicted of forgery and educated at the Lake For- 
est College."* 

The lesson from these and other figures is not diffi- 
cult to read. Prof. Howard writing on this question 
says : 

"Among the foreign-born residents of the United 
States, the relative percentage of felonies due to in- 
temperance for each nationality stands in direct 
ratio to the drinking habits of such nationality. TJic 
hardest drinking peoples show the highest relative per- 
centages of heinous crimes induced by alcohol. ""[ 

When we consider the exceptionally low percentage 
of alcoholism among the Italian-speaking population this 
last statement has increased significance. Miss Clag- 
horn's intensive studies of Italians in New York City 
leads her to think that "The Italian immigrant is very 
little given to drink." This statement is frequently made 
and universally accepted. If one were to enter almost 
any home in New York City where Italian is spoken, 
he would be sure to meet with the usage of wine. Ital- 
ian families use wine as a food and have through cen- 
turies so regulated their diet and manner of living with 
respect to it that abuses of it are rarely encountered. 

The writer is able to present for the first time the 
actual statistics relating to the frequency of the phe- 
nomenon of drunkenness among Italians thruout the 
United States. The Census Bureau has just published 
its final report on prisoners based upon the data ob- 
tained from the last census in a large 535 quarto page 
volume. The figures below are compiled by the writer 
from the tables contained therein, and show for the 
Italian strain the lowest percentage of commitments 
arising from causes of this description when compared 
with all other nationalities : 

* Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and 
Criminology. Vol. 8, p. 140. 

tThe American Journal of Sociology— "Alcohol and Crime," 
George Elliott Howard, July 1918, p. 65. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 81 

PRISONERS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENTS COMMITTED 
FOR DRUNKENNESS, 1910* 

Ratio of 

Percentage Commitments§ 

30.0 158.1 

49.4 234.0 
50.9 416.9 
51.2 302.0 

51.5 239.1 
53.5 167.4 

57.1 218.9 

59.0 1,379.0 

64.1 435.4 

63.2 402.3 
ni 1,540.1 

Other Countries 2,735 54.5 366.0 

* Compiled from "Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents" — Bu- 
reau of Census, 1919, pp. 130-131. 

§ Number committed per 100,000 white population born in 
the same country. 



Nationality 


Number 


ITALY 


2,124 


Russia 


2,771 


Austria 


3,525 


France 


3,354 


Hungary 


1,185 


Switzerland 


209 


Germany 


5,060 


Mexico 


3,031 


Canada, English 


3,531 


Canada, French 


1,549 


Ireland 


20,825 



82 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

PART III. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS* 

CHAPTER X 

INTRODUCTION 

DIFFICULTIES OF CLASSIFICATION— In placing 
Americans of Italian extraction in the four** classes de- 
scribed below the writer is following a purely arbitrary- 
plan of classification. It is not meant that there is any 
hard and fast line which serves to mark off one class 
from another or that any objective indicia exist that 
can be used to measure exactly subjective states of 
mind; or even that the four following types exhaust all 
the types of mind that there are to be found among the 
peoples of Italian lineage that make their homes here. 
Relative rather than absolute standards are behind the 
classifications made. 

The question of the quantitative measurement of sub- 
jective states of mind has produced a good deal of dis- 
cussion. Giddings has attempted to derive a law of sym- 
pathy, and therefore likeness, inherent in a population 
based upon their "consciousness-of-kind", seeking to 
show that the nature of a population's density and homo- 
geneity corresponds to the character of its material en- 
vironment. f Another well-known sociologist Gabriel 
Tarde in his "Social Laws" holds that intellectual activi- 
ties of the individual can be quantitatively measured. ij: 

* The terminology, classifications, and descriptions, used 
— through PART III — Psychological Traits, follow closely and 
are adapted from the terminology, classifications and descrip- 
tions of Giddings (vide, Inductive Sociology, passim.) 

** The four types of individuals to be briefly described in 
this section are: 

(a) The "tenement" type (an ideo-emotional type). 

(b) The "trade" and "business" type (a dogmatic-emotional 
type). 

(c) The "Y. M. C. A." and "College" type (a transitional type). 

(d) The "professional" type (a critical-intellectual type), 
t Giddings — Inductive Sociology, p. 118. 

i Page 34. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 83 

M. M. Davis, Jr., shows how this quantitative method 
has been appHed to anthropological data.§ With socio- 
logical data, however the case appears to be different. 
Too many factors are concerned, and too many variables 
need to be considered. Social facts can not altogether 
be stated in terms of number or volume or density. An 
able presentation of this last view is the recent article 
by Boodin who holds "that statistical methods applied to 
social processes must indeed seem vague as compared to 
the laws of mechanical science and we are indeed rightly 
suspicious of too exact formulas in the social sciences."* 
Munsterberg has shown that the only way mental eval- 
uations can be quantitatively compared is by first reduc- 
ing them to their physical correlates as is done in phy- 
siological psychology. But this leaves out the very heart 
of the phenomenon that is to be compared. As Bristol 
says "evaluations differ from moment to moment and 
social facts are the outcome of these ever shifting mo- 
ments." Finally one of America's foremost sociological 
methodologists in a very recent text while ascribing the 
utmost importance to precision in preparing the data for 
social science does not believe its true aim is to bring 
society within the sphere of arithmetic. He says "exact 
prediction and mechanical control for the social world 
I believe, to be a false ideal inconsiderately borrowed 
from the provinces of physical science. There is no real 
reason to think that this sort of prediction or control 
will ever be possible."** 

It is impossible therefore to subject Americans of 
Italian extraction to any statistical analysis that would 
permit us to measure quantitatively their mental product 
and to compare it with the product of other Americans. 
The only alternative is to judge them by the institutions 
which reflect their stage of mental, moral and general 
civilizatory progress and to sociologically evaluate these. 
Just such an analysis is attempted in Part IV, Social Or- 
ganization of this book. 

§ Psychological Interpretations of Society, p. 217. 
* Boodin — American Journal of Sociology, March 1918, p. 705 
passim. 
** Cooley, Charles Horton, The Social Process, p. 398. 



84 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

At some time or other probably every one in the class 
labelled the "tenement" type, in certain specific reac- 
tions, closely resembles individuals falling within the 
class labelled the "professional" type and vice versa. 
But taking a broad perspective it can be said that the 
reactions of those individuals described in the class 
called the "tenement" type consistently resemble the 
type of mind that Giddings has called the "ideo-motor" 
type ; as does the class of individuals making up what is 
called here the "trade" and "business" type resemble 
more than any other, the type of mind called by Gid- 
dings the "dogmatic-emotional" ; and as the last two 
types here described namely the "college" and "profes- 
sional" types resemble the so-called "critical-intellectual" 
type of mind. 

In dwelling then on the general characteristics of the 
American of Italian extraction it would be difficult to 
say that any one individual corresponded altogether and 
exactly, to such and such a type. One finds that in cer- 
tain situations this individual's reactions are such as 
categorize the "ideo-emotional" type, and in other sit- 
uations the reactions more nearly correspond to those 
distinguishing the "critical-intellectual" type. In be- 
tween these two types of extremes are represented all 
possible combinations and shadings of reactions that 
make classifications difficult at best and open always to 
grave sources of error. Dogmatization here is for the 
sake of clarity. 

While the basis for classification of types of Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction is therefore a purely arbitrary 
one, nevertheless there are certain constant factors no- 
ticed thruout that are helpful in forming a judgment as 
to what logically constitutes the proper ground or basis 
for classifying an individual in such and such a category. 
More important perhaps than any other factor is that 
of education. Not only does it determine the kind of 
activities that are indulged in, but also the associations 
that are formed and the nature of the contacts estab- 
lished. The full volume of the type under surveillance 
here has not yet advanced sufficiently in years to give 
us any basis for making any conclusions in this respect. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 85 

ECONOMIC STATUS— The economic status of the 
home determines in most cases the circle in which the 
individual is to move. As a rule the Americr.n <>f Ital- 
ian extraction is poor and this class has not produced 
any great financial men such as the Hebrews have. Not 
infrequently however, the individuals of this class rise 
above the economic obstacle. The president of the Co- 
lumbia Circolo* at Columbia University at the outb^-eak 
of the war figured out that almost fifty percent of this 
type of student at Columbia was there either thru schol- 
arship aid or by means of work done after school 
hours. The economic background for the great majority 
of Americans of Italian extraction is that lowest down 
in our wage scale. 

PLEASURES — The physical background for by far 
the overwhelming majority of this type of American is 
the "street." It is their playground. The home is not 
to be considered as a desirable place to spend one's 
leisure time in so far as fully 85 percent of these Ameri- 
cans in New York City are concerned. That the "street" 
has the better of the competition between the two is 
shown by the frequent claim made by so many Italian 
mothers that "their children are wild and so they put 
them in an institution or an asylum." A survey of the 
Italian colonies in New York City shows that there are 
at least 300,000 such people in New York City of an age 
calculated to make fit subjects for the influences of the 
"street" to effectively work upon. 

The ages of each group determine the nature of the 
activities indulged in. For instance in the professional 
type our individuals are settled and matured. Their 
status can be more easily determined and with greater 
accuracy than that of the other three types discussed 
which are still in a transitional or unsettled stage. 

Length of stay in this country affects the vocation 
of the individual but hardly his status with the different 
groups noted. But the degree of parental influence ob- 
taining is very important in that it determines largely 
the attitude one takes towards questions in politics. If 
one is closely linked up with the family of an older gen- 

* Nicholas Bucci — "Italian Scholarship at Columbia." The 
Italian Intercollegiate — Vol. 1, Jan. 1917, p. 4. 



86 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

eration and the influence of the parent is strong he is 
apt to think as does the parent, thereby thwarting the 
development of a full-blown American habit of thinking 
and of action. In the instance here under discussion 
however, this family bond or parental sway, among the 
Italian speaking Americans, is very attenuated. 

By noting one's play and recreational activities we 
get the surest index of the innate bent of the type. 
Among these people too often the work they do is least 
expressive of themselves but "in their pleasures they 
are themselves and follow their bent."* The largest 
modicum of free choice is evidenced in one's play, and 
so by observing the nature of the recreations indulged 
in one is afforded another way of judging the type of 
mind in question. One's mode of life includes such fac- 
tors as cooperation, individual and social choices, per- 
sonal characteristics, etc., and these are all helpful in- 
dices for judging the type. 

Whether one is a citizen or not plays little part in 
determining the class into which he falls. Vocation is 
a factor in determining the way an individual is to de- 
velop and the class into which he is placed. All these 
factors together serve to point out or gauge in a rough 
but approximately certain way the general trend of the 
individual type. None of the distinctions made are ab- 
solute — a constant over-lapping exists and the classifi- 
cations made correspond as was said before, in a rough 
way and reflect the type of organization described in the 
chapters on Social Organization. So that judging from 
the above we find what we have been led to suspect, 
namely that it is the "ideo-motor" and "ideo-emotional" 
types of mind among Americans of Italian extraction 
in New York City that belong to the "street," "athletic" 
and even "settlement" clubs ; the "dogmatic-emotional" 
type that is joining the Y. M. C. A. Associations and their 
like, such as the religious and benevolent associations 
and the civic club; and the "critical-intellectual" type of 
mind that is interested in the hig-h-school and college 
Circolo, the Social Welfare League and the Professional 
club. 

♦Williams, An American Town, A Sociological Study, Co- 
lumbia University Studies in Political Science, etc., p. 107. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 87 

CHAPTER XI 

THE "TENEMENT" TYPE 

(AN IDEO-EMOTIONAL TYPE) 

BACKGROUND — A general survey of the features 
characterizing the "tenement" type of American of Ital- 
ian extraction will disclose the following information. As 
a rule they are not "the muscle-bound, stolid, heavy-set 
coarse physical type such as is represented by the immi- 
grant who comes here "en masse." Boas' studies of the 
descendants of Italian immigrants show that they suffer 
physically from the readjustment to this climate and 
environment. 

The home conditions are such that one wonders why 
there are not more perversions of the natural instincts 
than actually is the case. Coming from neighborhoods 
whose inhabitants find their margin of economic subsist- 
ence a very slender one, as a rule little time is left or 
inclination evolved that can be devoted to things of the 
spirit or to matters cultural and influences refining. 

Congestion, poor sanitation, foul air and poverty all 
breed in time a nonchalant indifference to these. Am- 
bition is starved and where not actually killed, the resi- 
dual modicum lives on to embitter a rancorous cynicism. 
It is true that as you keep piling on opportunities, a lad 
is apt to hold them cheaply if not altogether indiffer- 
ently ; but it is equally true that if the struggle to 
achieve be made too bitter it will inevitably poison the 
springs of character. For those of Italian stock the 
percentage of criminals is recruited largely from this 
class, and is the shadowy basis for the grossly exag- 
gerated statement of Hall that the descendants of the 
Italian immigrants are twice and three times more crim- 
inal than are their fathers. To a large extent these 
Americans "gone wrong" have lived too long under the 
perverting influences of the "street" and the niggardly 
auspices of our social organization which found no 
proper outlet for their pent-up energies. 



88 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Looking at the spiritual development of this type one 
must report a dearth or paucity of spiritual thinking or 
even interest. They are a people of deed and not of 
creed. Where there is avowed adherence to religious 
tenets it is apt to be of a formal and perfunctory kind, 
in many cases representing what is feared rather than 
understood. Dr. Jones was led to say that the 
"religious life of the Italian is spasmodic and is stimu- 
lated chiefly by religious celebrations that appeal to the 
dramatic instincts, or as it is stirred by some calamity 
that befalls the individual or his friends."* This is ex- 
actly what Woods has in mind when he says that "the 
Italian goes to church for social reasons."** 

It can safely be said that the "tenement" type has had 
little if any schooling extending beyond the grammar 
grades. The work they do must be financially remun- 
erative and that immediately so. The membership dis- 
tribution of the "Huskies" and of the "Nameoka" As- 
sociations which are the two organizations with mem- 
bers of this type specifically described showed that the 
majority are practising vocations that require little if 
any school discipline. Such vocations as are practised 
are varied and the character of application to such is 
intermittent. The home ofifers little incentive to con- 
tinued employment, for in the main the influences eman- 
ating from the crowded tenement homes where the Ital- 
ian speaking population literally teems, are unsocial in 
character. The growing generation of such Italians in 
New York City misses by a wide margin the courtesy, 
politeness and generally social qualities of his parent. 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS— In disposition 
these Americans correspond most nearly to what Gid- 
dings calls the "instigative" type. A marked tone of 
pleasure-craving exists thruout and is perhaps dominant. 
The pleasure-loving character of this type calls for 
pleasures that are of a motory and sensory kind. Boon 
companions, a good social time and not too long and 

♦Jones, Dr. Thomas J., Sociology of a New York City Block, 
p. 95. 
** Woods, Robert A., Americans in Process. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 89 

concentrated time and attention on any one problem — 
betray the "Latinity" of this group. 

While no adequate statistical proof exists from which 
to determine the distribution for all types of disposi- 
tions for all nationalities that are most prevalent, com- 
mon observation assures us that instigative dispositions 
are more numerous than the "aggressive" and much 
more numerous than the "domineering" while relatively 
few dispositions are "creative."* In noting these indi- 
viduals of the "tenement" class as instigative in dispo- 
sition we see that they conform to the type of disposi- 
tion that is most prevalent for all races. 

We find also that theirs is a type of character that 
employs "temptation" and "persuasion" as a means of ac- 
complishing its end. The dispositions of this "tene- 
ment" population are made to follow along indirect ra- 
ther than direct channels. There is always some "dou- 
ble-crossing" (to use their own expression) going on 
among these people. The native suspicion of the mem- 
bers of this class makes this a widely used thing. 

COOPERATION— These people all have the Italian 
language as a background for their linguistic inheritance. 
But it is not that liquid and musical Italian of which we 
read; instead it is a blend or jargon of dialects under- 
stood only by the group of families that came from the 
same district in Italy. Cooperation for the adult is lim- 
ited to these similarly speaking Italians ; for the younger 
generation it is limited by the objective conditions that 
obtain. The generally cooperative nature of the Amer- 
ican of Italian extraction is shown by the numerous so- 
cial, educational and political interests that he always 
has in hand. Subjective conditions of cooperation are 
determined by type of mind, of disposition and of char- 
acter. Because the mental type of this class of indi- 
viduals is largely "ideo-emotional" we have a coopera- 
tion evidenced that is largely based upon action swiftly 
and even superficially sympathetic. All the forms of ac- 
tivity indulged in show simple action and lots of it 
whether it is a picnic or a dance. Giddings found an 

* Giddings, F. H., Descriptive and Historical Sociology, p. 210. 



90 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

overwhelming majority of the American people to be 
of the "ideo-emotional" and "dogmatic-emotional" type. 
His words on this point are "the general conclusion that 
the mental mode of the American people as a whole is 
'ideo-emotional' to 'dogmatic-emotional' may probably 
be accepted as established."* In this instance therefore 
and so far as mental modes are concerned our American 
of Italian origin is not very different from the native 
stock. 

The group of organizations with memberships of in- 
dividuals falling within this category among Italian 
speaking Americans affords many instances of the char- 
acter of their cooperation ; and because their Latin ap- 
preciation is relatively high the result is that the coop- 
erative activities entered into fall along instinctive as 
well as along sympathetic lines. There is no doubt that 
in every organization effected on the East Side the indi- 
viduals comprising it are foremost of all else conscious 
of their group integrity and deliberately seek to follow 
out lines of cooperation that will strengthen the instinc- 
tive basis upon which they are organized. 

When the Italian has lived here long enough to no 
longer resist the assimilating influences of environment, 
this instinctive character or basis of their forms of co- 
operation will be changed, but not before. Dr. Jones 
says "tenement dwellers see many sights and hear many 
sounds and are influenced by many people every day of 
their lives. But each day the stimuli are the same, in 
Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn and the people 
they meet are very much the same as those to whom 
they are accustomed.' There is little time for individual 
improvement and so while the elements composing these 
people are immeasurably different in character and in 
mind, assimilation is inevitable. Appreciation of one 
another will increase ; inter-marriage and blending of 
characteristics will follow and similarity of behaviour 
will be greater. The Italian will be less impulsive in 
his responses."** When this occurs, probably not until 

♦Psychological Review, Vol. 8, No. 4, July 1901, pp. 337-349. 
** Jones, Dr. Thomas J., Sociology of a New York City Block, 
p. 40. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 91 

the third generation, a radical modification of this in- 
stinctive basis for the forms of social organization of 
this type will be in order. 

Because such groups of this "tenement" type of peo- 
ple are limited in membership to those who come from 
the same district or neighborhood and are easily access- 
ible one to another, intercommunication is easy, contacts 
are frequent and both these serve to strengthen the sub- 
jective conditions of cooperation. Frequent contacts af- 
ford the widest opportunity for intimate associations but 
as Jones has intimated, only with those of a relatively 
like kind. It is not surprising therefore to find the 
"esprit de corps" among such groups remarkably te- 
nacious. Concrete instances of collective behaviour are 
numerous. At practically all bazaars, entertainments, 
and benefits of an extra-local nature where the call is 
made on the basis of their common Italian ancestry 
these individuals are enlisted with enthusiasm. Such 
affairs are numerous. Some of those of recent date are 
the McDougal Alley Festa, Italian Allied Bazaar at the 
Grand Central Palace for the relief of Italian Reservists, 
the Italian Village, New York Public Library (auspices 
of Italian Ambassador), Italy Day (June 24th), the An- 
nual Benefit for the Italian Hospital, etc. It is this dis- 
play of the cooperative spirit within the group that 
largely makes possible the continuity of such affairs. 
One could very easily add numerous other instances to 
show how definite and real are the bonds between such 
individuals that make for cooperation. 

The "tenement" type of Italian speaking American, 
it is true often contributes to affairs as have been men- 
tioned without any very great understanding of their 
real nature; but this is because he is able to discern 
one of his own kind or of a relatively like kind very 
readily. As a rule his Italian nature is apt to view with 
distrust advances made by strangers. Possible friends 
are greeted with a cordiality that depends not so much 
upon any reflective sympathy as it is due to the spon- 
taneity of their effervescent natures. 

This is to say that their consciousness of kind is in- 
tensive in feeling but narrowly grooved. It does not 



92 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

allow for the breadth and latitude discernible in the 
wholly tolerant and always "open mind" which devel- 
ops only from extensive reading, varied intercourse, in- 
tercommunication and wide travel. Let the intense Ital- 
ian nature once get "set" and it becomes intolerant of 
doubt, impatient with hesitation and scornful of weak- 
ness in others. In eighty-six families within the Italian 
block studied by Jones, instinctive responses of this 
type of mind to set stimuli were found to be the pre- 
dominant method of appreciation and in 93 cases were 
judged to be an important subordinate method.* 

Americans of Italian extraction of this class desire 
and feel affection; desire and expect sympathy; experi- 
ence penetratingly the desire to be recognized and ap- 
preciated ; are acutely conscious of resemblances — but 
their environment and associations do not operate to 
give them the mellowness and sanity of balance in these 
things as come only with varied intercourse and associa- 
tions, communication, quiet time for reflection, leisure, 
deliberation, opportunities for exercising options and the 
exercise for independent judgment on matters of finan- 
cial and social import. These aspects of development are 
pitifully circumscribed in their cases, by the fact that 
many of these opportunities are the reflection of a cer- 
tain economic freedom and relatively higher social plane 
of living than is that with which they are familiar or that 
their circumstances permit them to enjoy. Further- 
more, the environment of the East Side and of the other 
colonies where there are Italians, acts as an effective 
damper upon any excessive and sustained idealism and, 
incubus-like, clots out any such effort. 

PLEASURES — Pleasures of this type, as has been 
said, are largely of a motor and sensory kind and in no 
way greatly different from the pleasures of the "tene- 
ment" types of the various nationalities that one readily 
meets in a tour thruout the slum sections. One meets 
with the usual round of socials, dances, picnics, parlor 
and athletic games. Music is always made most of and 
individual performances by persons of superior talent 

* vide Jones, Thomas J., Sociology of a New York City Block, 
p. 52 seq. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 93 

the writer has found more numerous among- these peo- 
ple than among the American of Jewish, Irish or Ger- 
man extraction. Cards are a close second and the game 
invariably is attended with betting. 

Pleasures of emotional ideation include religious ac- 
tivities. One notes that interests along these lines are 
not up to par, in many cases not even extending to at- 
tendance of religious services. Belonging to a church, 
with many, is a mere verbal adherence to its traditions. 
Little if any original thinking is done. Some outward 
manifestations such as church going, wearing amulets, 
charms, and lighting candles in the homes are practised 
but all this is indicative of the adult's prerogative. If 
it means anything to the youth it is a sapless acquies- 
cence to what is feared rather than what is understood. 
They say and feel themselves to be living in the present 
and in their thinking what is not in the present is not 
at all. 

With regard to his pleasures of inductive ideation the 
case is more hopeful. Practically all read, for all have 
had a smattering of public school education, some even 
having finished the elementary course. It would be 
difficult to say what constitutes the back-bone of read- 
ing for this type. Topics run thru the whole field of 
choices and are both well chosen and persisted in. News- 
papers and magazines are commonly read. Of news- 
papers perhaps the Journal is the most read and more 
widely known than any other. This group character- 
ized as the "tenement" type is the most common type 
of mind among the Americans of Italian extraction in 
New York City and more than quadruples the "critical- 
intellectual" type of mind existing among the profes- 
sional class. 

TYPE OF MIND — Already several investigations have 
been made each attempting to determine the most preva- 
lent type of mind characterizing the "tenement" type of 
the Italian portion of this city's population. All agree 
that the "ideo-emotional" type is the most common. 
Douglas* in specifically describing six representative in- 

* Douglas, David W., Influence of the Southern Italian on 
American Society (Columbia Univ. Studies in Sociology). 



94 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

dividuals by character sketches, points out that they are 
representative of the entire population so situated. Like- 
wise Haynes** in the group described by him, again 
using the method of individual character sketches, in 
eight out of ten specific instances points to this ideo- 
emotional tone as indicative of the entire "tenement" 
portion of Italian speaking Americans. Jones'f findings 
are in like accord. Elsewhere the present author^ has 
used the same method, employed by these writers, and 
describing minutely the individual characteristics and 
personal traits of over a dozen individuals of this class, 
pointed out the "ideo-emotional" nature of their mental 
modes. It seems fairly well established therefore that 
this is the most prevalent type of mind in the Iralian 
quarters of this city. 

It would not however be without profit if we inserted 
here just one such character sketch, typical of this type, 
as it is pictured by one not of a like racial strain. Bryce 

Haynes says of A . 

"We have no difficulty in classifying A as dis- 
tinctively of a pleasure-loving, convivial type of 
character and of an instigative disposition. His 
motor reaction is rather slow and continuity of 
thought decidedly intermittent. The kind of move- 
ment may most properly be described as semi- i 
voluntary ; his emotions as weak and temperament i 
as sanguine. His formation of belief or judgment i 
may be classed as objective and his mode of reason- | 
ing as imaginative (analogical). His motives off 
appreciation are clearly pleasures of sense, idea and 
emotion and his wide interest would cause his I; 
method of appreciation to be called 'curious inspec- 1? 
tion.' While his degree of appreciation is high.j 
his motives of utilization are clearly appetitive oris 
craving for pleasures and the method that of insti- • 

** Haynes, Bryce, Some Italian Types of Mind (Columbiaif 
University Studies). 

t Jones, Thomas J., Sociology of a New York City Block' 
(Columbia University Studies). 

t Mariano. John H., A Sociological Study of Certain Italian- 
Americans. (Columbia Univ. Studies in Sociology). 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 95 

gation. Motives of characterization may most 
properly be classed as new desires while accommo- 
dation fittingly describes the method. Comparing 
the above with the description of the ideo-emo- 

tional type of mind we find that A is a typical 

example."* 
Naturally with such individuals we find that motor 
impulses are high and strong; instincts are saturated 
with varying emotions, the gay predominating. In sym- 
pathy the American of Italian extraction of this class is 
quick to respond but the reactions tend to be instable as 
often as they are stable. An overwhelming exuberance 
regarding a new undertaking is frequently apt to meet 
with a quiet death through as rapid a disinterestedness. 
The American of Italian extraction is rich in imagina- 
tion, again speaking for this type only, with greater than 
the pro rata decrease in creative intellect that often 
corresponds. Ideas are abundant but tend to be loosely 
organized and so lack much of that strong centralizing 
bond that is needed to harness them and render them 
fit to be put into execution. But much that is depreca- 
tory in this respect is subject to some discounting by 
virtue of the fact that excellency in these is a reflection 
of exposure to systematized instruction and maturity in 
years neither of which factors are of paramount im- 
portance in considering this American of the "tenement" 
class. 

The American of Italian extraction as we find him 
here is quick to respond to any stimulus but such prompt- 
ness is often at the expense of persistency. Such reac- 
tions are apt to be as involuntary as they are voluntary. 
Reactions are followed frequently by discussions setting 
forth good reasons why a particular enterprise should be 
supported giving- the whole afifair an air of concerted 
volition supplemented by rational, intellective motives 
and by logical rather than by analogical reasons. But 
this again is apt to be more external than internal. Dr. 
Jones believes from this that "the manner and intensity 
of response to stimulus is quick but irregular. Often 

Hajmes, Bryce — "Some Italian Types of Mind." 



96 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

it seems out of proportion to the stimulus in kind or in 
intensity — likewise can be noted the superiority of the 
Anglo-Saxon race in the close correspondence of stim- 
ulus to response."* This last deduction may be "rela- 
tively" but not "absolutely" true. One must raise the 
question, not "Does the American of Italian extraction 
gesticulate more?" but "Does he reason less?" An an- 
swer to this question is still forth-coming from the gen- 
etic and social psychologists. We leave this type of 
American therefore with the feeling that his greatest 
need is "direction." 

* Jones, Dr. Thomas J. — "Sociology of a New York City 
Block/' p. 28. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 97 

CHAPTER XII 

THE TRADE OR BUSINESS TYPE 

(A DOGMATIC-EMOTIONAL TYPE) 

BACKGROUND— As was said earlier there is no 
absolute way of measuring quantitively innate differ- 
ences of type. Everything therefore must be relative. 
All the individuals in one category are found at times 
acting in ways more or less used to distinguish a dif- 
ferent type. 

The Americans of Italian extraction described here 
as constituting the "trade or business" type are 
not the adult Italians in New York City who are in busi- 
ness today. Such individuals for the most part are 
products of a different environment and social organiza- 
tion. The numerous businesses trafficking in wines, li- 
quors, oils, macaroni, cheeses, groceries, fruits and 
other Italian products are for the most part conducted 
by Italians or (Americans now) who were not born in 
this country and such as a class fall outside this study. 
What we are describing here is a type of American of 
Italian blood who has been since his early years engaged 
for the most part in subordinate positions in different 
American industries of all descriptions, offices, factories 
and other commercial enterprises. 

These Americans of the "trade" or "business" type 
are so-called because to all obvious appearances the 
main activity which admits of observance is that con- 
cerned with the work which brings in their weekly 
wages, in other words, their vocation. The matter of 
temperament however is just as important and must not 
be overlooked. 

It seems that such individuals are less susceptible to 
American methods, ways of thinking and of doing things. 
Their membership is largely recruited from individuals 
representing the 10.4% portion of Italian immigration 
that came here before their fourteenth birthday. Their 
"Italianism" hangs with them too long for them to be 



98 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

permitted an early start into American life. If a house 
to house canvass of this type were possible it would be 
found that a less proportion of these are voters than is 
true of any of the other classes. For instance the Ital- 
ian banks, benefit societies, fraternities and newspaper 
hold little or no attraction whatsoever to any of Italian 
extraction belonging to the tenement, college, or pro- 
fessional types, but to the American of Italian extrac- 
tion of the "trade" or "business" type the opposite holds 
true and one-third of them support such institutions in 
some way or other. 

Such individuals reflect also a larger share of suscep- 
tibility to home culture. They are not likely to go to 
work as office boys as do the "tenement" or settlement 
types, or as clerks in American industries and business 
houses downtown, or as clerks for the U. S. Postal 
Service or even as truckmen. Instead they flock to the 
shops and factories performing mechanical work or 
work such as tailoring, cloth sponging, cigar-making, 
etc., where a knowledge of the English language is least 
necessary. It is from this group that the adult immi- 
grant institutions derive all of the little flow of the 
younger generation they have to swell their ranks. 

The physical background for the "trade" type is the 
same as that of the previous type with the difference 
that the home influence in the former class is dispro- 
portionately large. 

The fact that they are categorized as the "trade" or 
"business" type shows that their schooling as a primary 
thing is over and must have been limited judging by their 
ages and the nature of the work in which they are en- 
gaged. The wages of the "trade" and "business" class 
compare favorably with the wages of the "tenement" 
group because usually it represents labor that is skilled 
or technical like barbering, tailoring, shoe-making. 

Their trades pay them anywhere from $25 to $50 a 
week and this enables them to live comfortably. Their 
mode of living is plain and gives them an air of thoro- 
going stability and steadiness. Theirs is the steady 
plodding nature. 

In mentaHty such fellows are strong but narrowly 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 99 

grooved and therefore imperfectly developed. If a thoro- 
going study were to be made of the politics of this type 
it would be found to contain 90% of the socialistic vote 
coming from the Italian element of this city. 

At the same time, these people are more amenable to 
church rule and regulations than the previous type. This 
is true partly because of the degree of dependence they 
as strangers in a new land place upon a recognized 
and stabile institution such as is the church. Tempera- 
mental differences also count and help explain the at- 
tachment of this dogmatic-emotional type to the Church. 
Their religion is taken seriously and acted out with ex- 
treme literalness. Their home conditions foster a nar- 
row and cribbing viewpoint in all things. It was this 
type that "in a small town in the State of New York 
petitioned the Bishop for a church." 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS— Individuals of 
this type more nearly correspond in disposition to that 
which is understood by the word "domineering." Every- 
thing that comes to their notice and that takes their 
time must continue to prove its worth if it is to stay. 
Such an individual subjects everything excepting his per- 
sonal "hobbies" to a searching analysis and he is ready 
to dissent quickly everywhere and everytime that an 
occasion presents itself. An organization effected by 
such a group is usually the seat of more turmoil and 
discussion than is true of others. 

This type of mind makes such individuals inclined to 
introspection and they can and do become very un-social, 
missing by a wide margin the "Latin" buoyancy of the 
race from which they are descended. Many Americans 
say that the greatest loss that the Italian sustains in his 
contact with American democracy is this perversion of 
his "inherent social sense." Mr. Davenport, Head- 
worker of the Italian settlement says on this point, "The 
Italian is infinitely bettered industrially by emigrating 
but socially he suffers a great loss." Both of these 
"gains and losses" — the economic and the social — are 
most markedly shown by way of contrast in the cases 
of this type we are now discussing. In Italy these indi- 
viduals would have been agriculturalists ; in America 



100 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

they are skilled mechanics or artisans commanding a 
relatively high wage. But in the transition they lose 
their "social" poise. It results in this type of individual 
continually photographing his own inner mental states. 
He is altogether too much with himself and from one 
who is un-social, he easily slips into the type we dis- 
tinguish as anti-social. 

COOPERATION— That the above is possible is ex- 
plained in part by the circumscribed character of their 
circle of friends. This fact is due chiefly to their 
imperfect grip of the language. Such individuals strike 
one as being always unhappy, though in talking to them 
this is not easily seen or made apparent. One can't 
escape the impression that here is an individual who has 
attained maturity without ever having passed through 
the preliminary stages of youth, play, etc. Even when 
this type does play it is made a business and taken very 
seriously. They apply themselves to it with an assid- 
uity that makes it seem a task to the outsider. It is this 
type that Jones had in mind when he saw the convivial 
nature of the Italian change because of the hard work 
to which he was subjected here. Change with this type 
tho perhaps is slowest of all. Mr. Douglas believes that 
this type does change, and changing, leaves influences 
that are not bad. He says : 

"The influence that the Southern Italian is exert- 
ing depends on the degree of his assimilation into 
our American stock, and indirectly on the extent 
to which he modifies any of our customs or man- 
ners. If he is not pliable and does not respond fa- 
vorably to the right kind of leadership ; if he per- 
sists in his old habits and customs ; if in short he is 
lacking in the potentialities of good citizenship, 
then without question we should say that he is a 
dangerous element and his influence could only re- 
sult in evil. We have tried to show in the body of 
this paper that the Italian is pliable and is willing 
to learn. He is thrifty, industrious, and often ar- 
tistic and is lacking in that spirit of "rowdyism" 
that is prevalent in some of the classes of our so- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 101 

ciety. We cannot say therefore in the face of these 
facts that the Italian is detrimental to our social 
welfare.* 
PLEASURES — In character the "trade" type repre- 
sents most truly the austere type. What avocations 
they have are apt to have a moral coloring. These indi- 
viduals consider themselves immensely superior to the 
individuals composing- the "tenement" or "settlement" 
types whose occasional infractions of the law are 
pointed to as disgracing the Italian name or stock from 
which they are sprung. To their children they point out 
how little America cares. Possibly this class feels that 
they have not been given a fair chance. All excesses of 
conviviality among themselves as well as with others 
are frowned upon. This is the class of the Italian- 
speaking people that frequent the theatres which give 
whatever Italian plays are to be seen in New York City. 
Baseball and basketball is unknown or certainly not 
practised. Sometimes the Italian game of "Boccie" is 
indulged in. This is a very simple game and requires no 
skill or dexterity save that gained in throwing a ball with 
one hand. Pleasures of a moral tone are appreciated 
more. They like to read religious magazines and period- 
icals and are often ardent workers for the church and 
Sunday School. This form of activity keeps them con- 
stantly among their own kind and does not permit them 
to go out and mingle with others. As they themselves 
are not to be changed in habits and in mind, their con- 
duct serves to inevitably repel others who either are 
not of a like kind or susceptible to their influence. 

TYPE OF MIND— When we come to classify the 
"trade" class according to type of mind we meet with a 
difficult problem. This is so because they do not fall 
clearly within any one of the four classifications made 
here. The individuals within it present a cross between 
the dogmatic-emotional and the critical-intellectual 
types with the greater emphasis perhaps on the former. 
Beliefs and ideas are subjectively determined by the 

* Douglas, David W. — "The Effect of the Southern Italian on 
American Society. 1915. 



102 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

mood they happen to be in. Sheer perseverence will 
cause such an one to hold on to first beliefs whether 
right or wrong. Often though, they are apt to be orig- 
inally critical of a proposition presented to them and 
subject it to an analysis showing the greatest latitude 
of view, clear perception, sound judgment and careful 
reasoning. But while all such mental processes are pos- 
sible, they do not always hold. Of a moralizing strain 
this type is more apt to let emotion and feeling rule so 
that sheer dogmatism makes it impossible for them to 
keep the "open mind." 

With them emotions are strong but are blended with 
their beliefs and partisan convictions. Such convictions 
are tenacious and a dominant factor in their mental 
make-up. When such an individual has taken an un- 
equivocal stand on a proposition, he becomes intolerant. 
With all this is accompanied a huge dash of idealism. It 
is with this type of mind that the "benefit" idea is 
strong. The benefit organizations are most numerous 
among this type. In a measure also the adult immi- 
grant fraternal organizations, immigrant banks, and 
foreign language newspapers derive all of the little sup- 
port they have from Americans of Italian extraction 
from within this subdivision. 

It is this type of mind also that instances a degree of 
appreciation closely resembling the "intellectual" type 
that Dr. Jones failed to observe and which led him to the 
mistaken statement that it did not exist.* The reason 
for this was that he failed to distinguish between the 
adult Italian who has become Americanized, and the 
American of Italian extraction not far enough removed 
from Italian culture to be distinguishable as offering any 
different degree of appreciation. 

The "trade" or "business" type, while the second larg- 
est group numerically among the Italian-speaking popu- 
lation of New York City affects least of any of our Amer- 
ican life and social institutions. It is the least Ameri- 
canized of the four main mental groups observable in 
New York City today. 

♦Jones — "Sociology of a City Block," p. 69. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 103 

CHAPTER XIII 

THE "Y. M. C. A." AND "COLLEGE" TYPE 

(A TRANSITIONAL TYPE) 

BACKGROUND— It can truly be said that the hope of 
America so far as the descendants of its immigrants are 
concerned lies with Americans of the second and subse- 
quent generations and not with the immigrant himself. 
Speaking for the Italian strain we come now to a type 
that is distinctly different from the two classes pre- 
viously discussed. The "college" type of Italian speak- 
ing American is distinctive because for the first time we 
meet thru him a stratum of social life in the Italian 
speaking colony of New York City that is not subnor- 
mal. Of the three million or more of people of Italian 
origin within our borders the interpreters of this great 
mass must come from within this so-called "college- 
group." Just as the hope of the new China lies with 
the Chinese students of the growing generation, essen- 
tially a transitional type, who are studying in our Amer- 
ican schools and universities, so in a certain sense like- 
wise, it is this class of "college" Italian-speaking Amer- 
icans that is the hope of Italy. For it is upon such 
chosen individuals as these that the responsibility for 
transmitting a national contribution, lies ; and to them 
we must look for the interpretation of the social, intel- 
lectual, and moral heritage of this stock they represent. 

Italian-speaking Americans representative of previous 
types have shown how little was to be expected of them 
because of their limited opportunities and how because 
of these limitations they have not been able to reach 
for or even to know the best that real America af- 
forded. In the case of the individuals now reached this 
does not hold. In one sense, at least, namely that of 
education, they are on a level with Americans of other 
descents. A comparative survey of the reactions of such 
individuals will point out in an informing way how this 
type is developing. 



104 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

One distinctive outstanding- feature here is the nature 
oi the institution with which they are connected. The 
Y, M. C. A., high school, or college point out decidedly 
how transitional a stage is represented in the individuals 
with which we have now to deal. As yet they have not 
separated themselves fully and completely from insti- 
tutions where their attitude is chiefly one of receptivity. 
Time will have yet to tell, when as a class, sufficiently 
numerous, such individuals go out, whether they will put 
forth and evidence those striking qualities of leadership, 
resourcefulness and initiative in an American or trans- 
planted environment, which have been true of the Ital- 
ian nature of old. 

The physical background for this type is considerably 
improved over that of the two groups previously de- 
scribed in that a greater measure of contact with what 
is best in American life and most true of representative 
American institutions is afforded. The Y. M. C. A. and 
the college both permit these Americans to imbibe the 
unalloyed spirit of Americanism in such degree as is 
possible in a cosmopolitan centre like New York. This, 
to begin with, is a highly selective factor. For instance 
the economic opportunity for this group is vastly dif- 
ferent. Membership in the Y. M. C. A. costs $20 per 
annum and must be paid in advance. Tuition in college 
is anywhere from $100 to $200 per annum apart from 
the necessary incidentals for books, and exclusive of 
food and rent. This operates as a bar, and a selective 
process begins. Next the general setting of the Y. M. 
C. A., its cultural atmosphere and even spiritual empha- 
sis, the college with its campus, its stress on class 
routine, abstract training and discipline are other effect- 
ive weeders-out. The settlement type som.etimes is 
graduated into the Y. M. C. A. (but more often is not) 
and sometimes the winner of a Phi Beta Kappa key has 
had a background of "street" culture of several years 
length to his credit. But more often the transition is 
too abrupt and so is not made. In some ways the set- 
tlement so pauperizes and the Y. M. C. A. so patronizes 
that the free and easy passage or the feeding of indi- 
viduals step by step from the lower to the higher insti- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 105 

tution is not made. This condition also reflects to be 
sure, basic differences of mental modes and gives pause 
to one inclined towards overstressing the factors of en- 
vironment and opportunity, as over against heredity. 

It would be difficult to say how different are the home 
conditions of members of this type from those of the 
preceding unless in each case a separate investigation 
were made. Both extremes are represented, the very 
well-to-do Italian home and the poor, squalid and over- 
crowded one. It is safe to say that the majority of 
homes of members of this type have as the chief wage- 
earner a skilled workman rather than an unskilled la- 
borer. If the home represented by such an individual is 
that of the well-to-do Italian, one is not unlikely to find 
that the parent has had a good education in Italy, and is 
either a business man or practising a profession ; if the 
home represents the other extreme, the wage-earner is 
more apt to be a skilled barber or tailor or musician 
rather than a ditch-digger, street-cleaner, mine laborer 
or hod carrier. 

Because in the main, the high-school type, of which 
there are thousands now in New York City, is every- 
thing that the college type represents, in embryo, and 
with the same traits only less accentuated and devel- 
oped, we will discuss the chief traits of this latter class 
only and mean it to include a large portion of the 
younger Americans of Italian extraction studying in the 
different high-schools and even business schools of this 
city. 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS — The physical 
characteristics of this type afford little indication of 
their racial ancestry. There is a tendency toward dark 
complexions and shortness of stature, but the features 
while of a foreign cast are difficult to define readily as 
Italian. One might very easily mistake them for the 
Spanish or various South American types that are be- 
coming more frequent. The similarity to the Greek 
countenance is also marked. On the whole they are 
careful of their clothes and spend a good deal of time 
on this detail. The excellent formal discipline to which 
they are being subjected, makes for a mind that, as a 



106 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

rule, has ideas logically correlated and unified. Their 
disposition is agg'ressive while their ages serve many 
times to make them impulsive in action. It is a type that 
sets fashions. Comparing them with other Americans of 
Italian extraction it would be nearest the truth to say 
that they are of a creative disposition, for they lead 
where the others follow. Dr. Jones in saying that the 
Italian stays on the two lower mental levels (ideo-motor 
and ideo-emotional) had in mind the "tenement" type 
which was the only type he investigated and possibly 
even referred to the fathers or immigrants. At any rate 
such was the only type he uncovered when he made his 
sociological investigation of a New York City Block 
more than a decade ago. It is evident that when Dr. 
Jones wrote his dissertation at Columbia, he failed to 
meet one of the handful of individuals who could be 
classed by him as being of a creative disposition and who 
happened to be studying there ; today however, more 
than 250 names in the Columbia catalogue alone can be 
counted as eligible to such classification. 

In character these individuals are apt to be of a con- 
vivial type but the nature of the years or ages at which 
we find them serves to discount this generalization 
somewhat. As a matter of fact, what we do find, all 
things considered, is an unusually large strain of seri- 
ousness probably because so large a percentage find it 
necessary to rely on other means than parental support 
for continuance in their present most engaging busi- 
ness, namely that of getting an education. It is difficult 
to say whether as a class their reactions in mental mat- 
ters are slow or quick. However such reactions are for 
the most part voluntary and tend somewhat towards 
being individualistic. In reasoning they are as careful 
as the average both of the premises and the logic in 
question at issue, there being nothing in race as such 
operating as a deterrent or otherwise. 

COOPERATION— These Americans of Italian extrac- 
tion do not feel themselves to be different from other 
Americans. Of course they say they are conscious of 
their Italian ancestry. One generation never can ab- 
solutely remove them from this. In some cases they 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 107 

even try to hide it. On the whole this difference does 
not, to their mind, serve to set them off as a class apart. 
Their pleasures and their work are exactly similar in 
all respects to those of other peoples and are dictated 
by an economic and mental rather than by a racial back- 
ground. Towards strangers their attitude is one of per- 
haps unusual cordiality because "lit" up by their Latin 
warmth. In sympathy they are quick to respond and 
the college American of Italian extraction is continually 
giving to benefits and other forms of charitable move- 
ments. There is this one difference to be noted, he 
gives more if such are for Italians. The Italian Circolo 
movement is an attempt to secure recognition for these 
individuals as a class; as individuals recognition is secured 
by their participation in college and campus activities. 
So thoroly acclimated is this American to the whole so- 
cial and intellectual background of college life that no 
big feature worthy of mention exists among them that 
is based upon pure race lines. Our conviction therefore, 
is that their "consciousness-of-kind" concerning race at 
any rate, is eclipsed by their desire for recognition, or 
"consciousness-of-kind" as members of a larger group, 
that is, the college or the university. No persistent or 
well-defined cooperation among these individuals is dis- 
cernible as a class. Such eft'orts are thrown into the 
general melting pot of efforts contributed towards by 
all the differently blooded Americans attending the same 
school and for the same general purpose. Their "Ital- 
ianism" is subordinated to their Americanism. And so 
by the nature of both the objective and subjective con- 
ditions that exist, these Americans of Italian extraction 
instance no cooperation of a narrow or inclusive fashion 
that would distinguish them as different from other 
Americans. 

PLEASURES — All honors whether athletic, social or 
scholastic are thrown open to them on an equal footing. 
Specific achievements by members of this group are de- 
scribed in the section on Social Organization. The one 
pleasure indulged in as a group that serves to set them 
apart is along dramatic lines. This follows from the 
difference in the language. An Italian play is annually 



108 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

given by the Circolo at Columbia, City College and 
Hunter College. This play is given in the native tongue. 
Its greatest value, it seems to the writer who has seen 
these rehearsed and given for the past six years, is 
social in character. In this one solitary group activity 
the college American of Italian origin follows out truly 
what a goodly portion of the contributors towards the 
symposium in a later chapter shows him to possess, 
namely "a sense of dramatic and artistic values." The 
annual Italian plays at Barnard and Columbia are said 
to be among the very best of the language plays given 
on college campuses. Again true to this type or perhaps 
more because in this their option is limited, the plays 
invariably given are plays stressing sensory and emo- 
tional values and show high conviviality. All this illus- 
trates the gay strain of the Italian. In his choice of 
plays this individual is neither to be praised nor blamed, 
for fully ninety percent of all plays written in Italian 
follow this vein. 

TYPE OF MIND — For this group motor impulses are 
strong and instincts and passions are often swayed by 
desires as well as convictions. This is to say, the Italian 
nature causes one to desire strongly and passionately, be 
it athletic or scholastic honors, and follows directly from 
the tense character of Italian fibre. In many cases this 
intensity of nature makes them do foolish things and 
many times their valor like that of other school-boys is 
that due to ignorance. 

The mental responses of the "college type" are prompt 
but whether persistent is a mooted question. At times 
they are apt to be domineering, arising from the fact 
that they feel this is part of one who is college-bred. On 
this point we notice a difiference from the average. Gid- 
dings found the mass of Mediterranean stock "to be in- 
stigative rather than domineermg and while leisure- 
loving, not indolent and used 'instigation' rather than 
'dominancy' to accomplish their ends."* Often these in- 
dividuals possess a relative abundance of ideas, tho 
these ideas are loosely organized around a vocabulary 

* Giddings, F. H., Descriptive and Historical Sociology, p 210. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 109 

greater than that of which they are the master. Italian 
loquacity is made apparent. It is not possible to say 
with any degree of accuracy just how scrupulous they 
are with respect to immoral indulgences. The only safe 
guide here is the individual. True to their age many 
will attack a problem with insufficient deliberation, and 
this may seem to mark them as capricious. This tho is 
more apparent than real. Capriciousness which is to be 
distinguished from "impulsiveness" and sensitivity to 
high emotion, is not an Italian trait. 

On the whole it can fairly be accepted that these in- 
dividuals making up approximately 1.5 percent of the 
entire Italian speaking population of the younger gen- 
eration in New York City, are proceeding at a rate of 
development commensurate with their economic stand- 
ing. As economic conditions become better for the 
average Italian family — the children will, in increasing 
numbers, go to the high-schools of this city instead of 
going immediately to work, or trust to evening schools, 
to complete their schooling. Subjecting added numbers 
to a relatively longer period of formal academic discipline 
will greatly increase the frequency of this type. 



no THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XIV 
THE PROFESSIONAL TYPE 

INTRODUCTION— It is difficult to put down here 
anything that, racially distinctive, would distinguish this 
type from the professionally employed American of other 
descents and which would serve to mark it off as being 
in very many ways radically different. In fact there 
seems to be little, if anything, in the way of psychologi- 
cal peculiarities when compared to other stocks that 
might be mentioned. It is true that differences such as 
vowel endings to the name, a swarthy skin, brown eyes, 
and dark color of hair, possibly a tendency to under- 
stature — if anthropometrically plotted — would show a 
resulting curve with a preponderance of these above 
physical characteristics on the side of this professionally 
employed American ; or possibly one even would be able 
to show in such individuals a tendency towards greater 
usage of hands accompanying speech, in many cases 
even violent gesticulation and besides a greater fre- 
quency in loss of temper; that perhaps associated with 
this trait is the tendency towards a quicker changing of 
mind and emotion ; or even that this is more apt to be 
associated with superficial moods. But one scarcely can 
say that these are indices of mental inferiority, or even 
that they are indices more truly indicating the "race" 
rather than the "individual." Certainly the well-accepted 
psychological tenet that "intra-group are greater than 
inter-group" differences would tend to make one dis- 
believe this. As Todd says "to base a theory — on certain 
assumed inherent differences of racial character or con- 
stitution is incautious ; for greater variations of skull 
formation, brain weight, mental and physical capacity 
are able to be found between members of the same ethnic 
group than between separate ethnic stocks."* Whether 
a lawyer, or a doctor, or a teacher, in the main, if such 
an individual has secured the greater part of his or her 

♦Todd, A. J. Theories of Social Progress, p. 279. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 111 

training in this country no appreciable differences exist, 
worth mentioning, that would serve to justify us in dis- 
criminating either for or against that type as being 
something "sui generis." If it is true that a heightened 
susceptibility to mental, emotional and physical changes 
exists with these people, it does not warrant the assump- 
tion made by Dr. Jones that along with such changes 
go an analogous tendency to be superficial in their think- 
ing. It is true that the lawyer is apt to have a clientele 
in which the percentage of those having Italian names 
predominates, and that a like condition exists with that 
of the doctor. But such a condition is to be noted as 
being equally true of the American lawyer of native 
parentage and the physician of Jewish, Bohemian, Ger- 
man and other extractions. The real way of judging 
whether a difference exists at all is to determine whether 
such individuals fit into the life of those people, what- 
ever generation or extraction they be, we call to mind 
when we think of AMERICAN. This as judged by the 
institutions effected by them and described in Part IV, 
Social Organization, they apparently do.* 

BACKGROUND— The membership rolls of three rep- 
resentative professional organizations of this class, the 
Circolo Nazionale, The Italian Teachers' Association and 
the Italian Educational League show a distribution of 
members according to residence as follows : 

DISTRIBUTION OF PROFESSIONALLY EMPLOYED 
ITALIANS ACCORDING TO RESIDENCE 

Borough Italian Teachers ItaHan Educa- Circolo 

Association tional League Nazionale 

Manhattan 42 82 108 

Bronx 31 38 62 

Brooklyn 25 52 94 

Queens 12 28 21 

Richmond 4 3 12 

Out of Town 18 55 27 

This class then is not located in any one spot, but is 

* Racial differences do exist. Americans of Italian extraction 
of both the "tenement" and "professional" types evidence a 
marked tendency towards an exceptional demonstrativity but 
that because of this, reasoning is any the less or inferior even, 
remains yet to be settled. 



112 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

scattered throughout the city. Fully 70 per cent of the 
lawyers are located in the heart of the office district 
downtown. The Italian-speaking doctors we find scat- 
tered throughout the Italian sections of the city, usually 
in the section where they have grown up and where they 
now practise their profession. The numbers vary accord- 
ing to the density of the colony. Thruout New York 
City there are approximately four hundred doctors 
compared to about six hundred lawyers of Italian origin. 
The members of the Italian Teachers' Association are 
scattered most promiscuously and domiciled in no way 
as could be shown to connect up with their place of 
work. The same condition exists for the membership 
distribution of the Circolo Nazionale. The background 
therefore for the professionally employed American can 
be said to be as typically American as is possible in a 
cosmopolitan center like New York. 

For this class of people very few indeed, if any at all, 
are not citizens. The writer knows of none excepting 
a few who have secured their professional training 
abroad and have come here fully matured in mind and 
habit. Such individuals, however, are not intended for 
inclusion in this study. For the most part then this 
class of professionally employed people have either been 
born here or have lived here the greater part of their 
lives. Certainly, a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher 
trained in Italy rarely practises his or her profession 
among Americans of Italian extraction. Should such 
practise be indulged in by any such it usually is confined 
to Italian immigrants who have in no way been gripped 
by American influences. In the homes of the majority 
of this professional American the culture influences are 
those of the younger and not of the older generation, 
primarily because the chief wage-earner now is Ameri- 
can. These Americans fit themselves and enter into 
American life and culture with ease and are welcomed. 
In no way is their mode of living radically dififerent from 
that which obtains among Americans of other descents. 
In feeling, in speech and in action surely no such dif- 
ferences exist. 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS— In disposition 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 113 

undoubtedly the creative type predominates, a charac- 
teristic dictated by class not by race. Their training 
permits these individuals to think for themselves. It 
was this type of individual, even among the adult, evi- 
dently that Dr. Jones ran across and "found in House 
No. 211, and four others filled with Italians of the more 
deliberately-minded kind, German-like Italians from the 
north of Italy."* What Dr. Jones mistakingly calls 
"deliberately-minded kind" of Italians are in reality 
Americans of Italian extraction belonging to what I 
have termed the "professional" type. 

In character these resemble individuals within the 
classification labelled by Giddings as the "rationally 
conscious" or individuals who are aware of the nature, 
purpose and intent of their actions both individually 
and collectively. Their actions because of the respon- 
sible character of the work they perform are to be 
designated as of a "conscious" kind and not narrowing 
as is apt to be the case when we considered the voca- 
tions of the "trade" or "business" type. 

COOPERATION— It is the business of this profes- 
sional class, among their other work, to be occupied 
with providing for the civic, educational, moral and 
physical welfare work that is conducted among the 
people from which they themselves have sprung. The 
problems such as these individuals of the professional 
class meet in their daily tasks require the exercise of 
original judgment, initiative and considerable tact. Fur- 
thermore their survival in the competitive struggle 
within the sphere of professional activity which engages 
them is dependent upon the display of just such qualities 
as resourcefulness, deliberation, good judgment and 
logical thinking — all characteristics that typify the 
"critical-intellectual" type of mind as expounded by 
Professor Giddings. 

Consequently in their work for their people as well 
as in the practice of their professions such individuals 
are being constantly thrown in contact with Americans 

♦Jones, Thomas J. Sociology of a New York City Block, 
p. 25. 



114 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

of all descents. In no way is it possible to distinguish 
in these contacts any feeling or sense of difference be- 
because of race. Perception of resemblances is marked 
by the wider sphere of similar mental modes and not 
similar racial backgrounds. It is not uncommon to find 
Jewish lawyers with a heavy Italian following. On the 
middle East Side and in Brooklyn are springing up 
lawyers of Italian blood with almost an entirely Jewish 
clientele. Likewise the Italian teacher is often found 
in a public school frequented largely by Jewish children 
and vice versa. Cooperation for individuals of this class 
has broken completely beyond the confines of race. 
Their attitude towards strangers is one of the best indi- 
cations of this. Future contacts with any such follow 
individual tastes, determined by volition and choice 
apart from any identity of descents or extractions. A 
harmony of musical, professional, social, or educational 
interests will in their cases prove more binding than 
nationality. 

TYPE OF MIND— The real way to test whether or 
not an efifective consciousness-of-kind has been or is 
being developed among this class is to take the individual 
and subject him to personal and specific tests. This 
manifestly is impossible. An alternative is to ascertain 
what positions involving leadership have fallen to this 
type, therefore instancing a process not delimited by 
race lines. This alternative consists in picking out those 
individuals who by virtue of opportunity and training 
have become leaders. To do this is not difficult. Prac- 
tically in every field of endeavor, whether in the social, 
educational, political or economic life of this city, some 
place of prominence has been achieved by Americans of 
Italian blood. And yet to be able to point out a strong 
class "consciousness-of-kind" among these leaders would 
be at the same time to point out how ineffectively is 
going on the process of our national synthetization 
among them. 

If "consciousness-of-kind" as measured by Dr. Jones 
is a steady and swift aggregation of like individuals, 
Americans of Italian extraction do not possess this trait 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 115 

in common with their earlier predecessors, for they do 
not flock together in any noticeable manner, as the 
tabulations olit'ered on page 111 show. Dr. Jones' figures 
in the table below, gathered for a period of four years 
are indicative of the condition not affecting the American 
of Italian origin, but the adult immigrant who has but 
recently arrived. He says on this point : "The adult 
Italian not long in this country both by necessity of 
knowing but one language and of economic pressure is 
constrained to live in the Italian quarter, viz : 

ITALIAN ELEMENT IN EACH HOUSE EACH YEAR 

HOUSE NUMBERS 

Years 211 213 215 217 219 223 

1895 — 12 — 16 — 10 

1897-1898 1 5 — — — 10 

1898-1899 3 12 13 11 9 14 

1899-1900 8 13 15 13 14 2 

His comment on these figures is "the mental attitude 
of the Italian in withdrawing to himself is not due to a 
perception of mental differences and resemblances. The 
other nationalities have been longer in America and 
are to some extent assimilated. They have often at- 
tained to a relatively high prosperity. They do not like 
to receive into their own tenement houses groups whose 
families are so near the economic margin of subsistence 
that they are willing to resort to any kind of work, to 
live in any sort of way and to chop the stair banisters 
for fuel. On the other hand the Italian immigrants 
being unable to talk with English-speaking nationali- 
ties or with Germans are compelled to speak their own 
language."* 

As the distribution of residences for the members of 
the three largest and most typical organizations of this 
class of Americans show, the very antithesis of the above 
is to be noted. Theirs is not a "consciousness-of-kind" 
that permits these individuals to flock together in a swift 
and steady aggregation" but rather their American spirit 
coupled with their training and better economic oppor- 
tunities causes them to expand and move out and settle 

* Jones, Thomas Jesse. Sociology of a New York City Block. 



116 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

in communities widely different in their form from any- 
thing to which their parents are accustomed. 

Whether or not there is a strong and well developed 
"consciousness-of-kind" can best be stated rather than 
measured by a description of the activities of the Italian- 
speaking colonies within this city and this we do in the 
next few chapters. One will readily see that to separate 
the activities of such individuals from the country of 
their adoption is impossible so that any reliable and 
quantitative index of a "consciousness-of-kind" is not 
possible. At the same time one can see that no complete 
separation of such individuals from the influences of 
the country of their ancestors either exists or is desir- 
able. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 



117 





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118 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XV 
THE ITALIAN-SPEAKING COLONY IN NEW YORK CITY 

INTRODUCTION— The Italian-speaking colony in 
New York City divides itself sharply into two groups, 
roughly called in this connection the "older" and the 
"younger" generations. It would not be amiss to say 
that for the most part those individuals making up the 
"older" generation secured their training or schooling in 
Italy ; a scant fifth came to America while very young, 
possibly even in their teens. This is not to say that 
they are any less American. The "younger" generation 
on the other hand was born here and constitutes a 
thorough product of American life and American insti- 
tutions. 

Unquestionably there are many prominent Americans 
of Italian blood that are not mentioned here in the fol- 
lowing pages. In many cases some of these are even 
better known than are those whose names one will meet 
with in this writing. Those that are included here have 
come to the writer's personal attention and he can there- 
fore present accurate facts with respect to their affilia- 
tion to the life of the Italian colony in the city. 

OLD GENERATION — Some notable religious figures 
are noticeable both among the Catholic and Protestant 
sects within the ranks of the "older" generation today. 
Representing the Catholics there is the Very Reverend 
Mgr. Gherardi Ferranti, Vicar General of the Italian 
work in this diocese ; the Reverend Dr. Grivetti who has ' 
made an enviable reputation for himself through his i 
efficient handling of the New York office of the Italica ; 
Gens ; Father Magliocco, whose wonderful singing and ; 
musical training mark him off as one apart from all | 
others in his line ; the very pious Father Coppo, Provin- | 
cial of the Salesian Order, who recently celebrated his \ 
silver jubilee ; and lastly the silver-tongued orator. Father | 
Silipigni is to be noted. [ 

The Protestants likewise have some men of marked \ 
ability. There is the Rev. Antonio Arrighi who has given 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 119 

a life-time in the work of uplifting his people and whose 
reminiscences are contained in his happy little volume 
"Life of a Drummer Boy with Garibaldi"; the Rev. 
Fenili, trained not only in an Italian university, but also 
a graduate of Columbia and with an erudition that is 
exceptional ; Rev. Antonio Mangano whose wonderful 
little book "Sons of Italy" is the last word in regard to 
the religio-social situation as it exists in the Italian 
colonies in America, also an individual who has a foot not 
only in the older civilization, but also in the new ; the 
scholarly Dr. Perazzini who wrote a book for the Colum- 
bia University "Studies in Comparative Literature" and 
IS Director of the Italian work for the White Bible 
school in this city ; the Rev. Riggio, Grand Master of 
the Jerusalem Lodge of Masons ; and so the list could 
go on if we had space. 

In portrait painting quite some art sense is manifest — 
witness Bertieri, Moretti, Piccirilli. 

In education or teaching the names are far too numer- 
ous to mention. Some are Prof. Racca, Prof. Costa, for- 
merly Assistant Director of the Italian Bureau of Infor- 
mation, Dr. Cosenza, Director of the Townsend Harris 
Hall School; Prof. Camera, Dr. Panarone, Dr. Ettari, all 
of City College ; Prof. Boselli of Vassar, formerly with 
the Italian Army; Prof. Bigongiari of Columbia, who 
likewise fought for Italy; and Prof. Enrico Cadorin, 
famous also as an artist. This list does not exhaust 
them. 

This section would be incomplete however, if we were 
to leave out the few school principals of Italian blood 
that New York City has. There is first of all Angelo 
Patri, author and social worker, principal of one of the 
largest Gary schools in New York City. Mr. Patri has 
just written two books on educational administration 
that are under advisement for possible use by the Fed- 
eral authorities ; Mr. Pugliesi, principal of the largest 
representative public school of Italian-speaking children 
downtown, and also a product of Columbia University. 
Miss Cafferata and Mrs. Defarrari-Weygandt are names 
that speak for themselves. 



120 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

To three men of Italian blood at least it has been given I 
to wear the ermine. The best known of all is Justice 
John J. Freschi of the Court of Special Sessions, who 
has behind him an unmatched record of years of faithfuli 
service in Italian welfare work in New York City, hon-i 
ored with a decoration by the King of Italy and an! 
honorary degree from New York University; Judge! 
Louis Valenti, a product of New York City schools, was! 
recently elected to the City Court; and lastly F. X. Man-1 
cuso whose work in connection with the Waite case| 
earned for him a magistracy and who bids fair to climbi 
higher. I 

In law it is difficult to pick and make choices because 
whatever choices are made some are sure to be slighted.' 
Perhaps the oldest practitioner of Italian blood in New 
York City is Astarite ; Paul Yasselli, assistant to the 
District Attorney for the Southern District of New York 
(formerly captain in the United States Army) is a man 
of parts ; and Stefano Miele, Grande Venerabile of the 
Order of the Sons of Italy is a name to conjure with. 
Other names that have secured public recognition are 
ex-Judge Palmieri and Michael Rofrano, ex-Deputy 
Street Cleaning Commissioner. 

In medicine it is possible to name some very notable 
figures. Of these one of the best known is un- 
questionably Antonio Stella, President of the Roman 
Legion. Dr. Stella's well-known researches in the socio- 
economic conditions of Italian-speaking people in New 
York City, and particularly his work along the line of 
tuberculosis have secured for him a well-merited recogni- 
tion that extends beyond local confines ; five thousand 
Saint Filesians swear by Dr. Tomasulo, who practises on 
the lower West Side ; Dr. Righi of Washington Place has 
a claim to our attention, likewise Drs. Scimeca, Previ- 
talis, Cassola, De Vecchi, DTserina, Collica, Legiardi- 
Laura, Menna, Osnato, Siragusa, Antonna. Dr. Rossano 
of East Harlem is exceedingly well known. Dr. Pisani, 
former member of the Board of Education is one of the 
best known doctors of Italian blood in New York City, 
and has a broad liberal viewpoint in socio-economic 
affairs extending beyond that of his own people. Dr. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 121 

Savini is one of the most successful surgeons and has 
an enviable reputation secured in part thru his successful 
operation and management of the Washington Square 
Hospital. Doctors Soresi and Parodi combme skill and 
learning to an unusual degree, the one in the field of 
surgery and the other in the general field of medicine. 
Dr. J. W. Perrilli is exceedingly well liked. He is 
president of the Italian Hospital and a member of the 
Board of Trustees of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. Dr. 
C. J. Imperatori, on the Bellevue staff, is one of the 
best surgeons here. Few are his peers in skill and 
learning. During the war he served as a lieutenant- 
colonel with the American Expeditionary Forces. As a 
laryngolist his articles in the medical journals are read 
with great attention and respect. Dr. Imperatori has 
set a mark in his profession which, for Italian students 
in particular, is worthy of emulation. 

Social work is best represented by Mrs. Deferrari- 
Weygandt, whose forty years as Principal of the Italian 
School have given her an unparalleled opportunity to 
see pass in review before her the remarkable changes in 
economic welfare and social uplift that have gone apace 
with the incoming of so many thousands of Italian- 
speaking children in the lower part of the city. Likewise 
Miss Cafferata, Head Probationer for New York City 
has been thru a life-time of work that brought her into 
intimate contact with Italian-speaking people. Mrs. 
Zunino, wife of the wealthy manufacturer, has given and 
today gives unstintingly of both time and money to phi- 
lanthropic and welfare movements. Mr. Pizzarra, Super- 
intendent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Children of this city and Treasurer of the Circolo Na- 
zionale Italiano is an extremely well-liked individual, old 
in the life of this city. Recently Mary A. Frasca was 
appointed by Mayor Hylan a member of the Board of 
Child Welfare. Miss Frasca is one of the best informed 
persons on social and economic conditions among Italians 
in this city and a splendid worker. 

In business choices again are difficult, the best known 
being Celestino Piva, whose munificent bequests make 
possible the Italian Hospital ; Gerli, Luigi Solari, Zunino, 



122 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Personeni, Scaramelli, President of the Italian Chamber 
of Commerce, Romeo, Paterno, Bosca, DeNobili, A. Fer- 
rara and Antonio Zucca. Cav. A. PortfoHo, one of the 
youngest of the older generation came here as a young 
boy and speedily made a great reputation as a successful 
business man. But more important perhaps is another 
distinction that has attached itself to his name. Here 
is one of the older generation that has succeeded in grip- 
ping completely the American viewpoint in all things and 
his contributions to social welfare and educational en- 
terprises among both Americans and Italians alike bring 
him high esteem. A recent contribution by him to the 
Italian Intercollegiate Association has served to make 
possible a wide scope of usefulness for this organization. 
The Di Giorgio brothers are also very prominent in the 
Italian business life of this city. They are well liked 
and Italians are proud of their wonderful achievements. 

In banking, the two names Lionello Perera, 62 Wall 
Street, and Joseph Francolini,* President of the Italian 
Savings Bank stand out prominently. Large private 
banks are scattered everywhere and are numerous. Gian- 
nini, Sbarbaro, Bernardini, Verrilli and Liccione are 
names of repute attesting honesty and integrity and in- 
spiring confidence wherever heard. 

In finance and economics Prof. Vittorio Racca easily 
is in the lead, having made special studies on the socio- 
economic conditions in the Balkans for several European 
governments. Dr. Bonaschi, executive secretary of the 
Roman Legion, also is well equipped in this connection. 

Among the newspaper men the names of Barsotti and 
Frugone rank high ; the former because of II Progresso, 
the latter because of II Bollettino. Cantelmo of II Gior- 
nale Italiano and II Telegrafo is exceedingly well known. 
Roversi of La Follia, and Dr. Vincent Campora of Colum- 
bus have also large followings. Dr. Campora publishes a 
very effective and interesting monthly magazine. Per- 
soneni has put forth II Cittadino ; Di Biasi has scored a 
wonderful success with II Carroccio which is the leading 
periodical of its kind in the United States; Mr. Toledo 

* Deceased. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 123 

also publishes a very successful little paper ; Captain 
Marinelli earned some recognition with L'ltalia and 
finally Mr. Calitri with his paper and Mr. Pasella with 
his paper La Sardegna are worthy of mention. Recently 
Pidala has put forth a monthly magazine called The 
Promptor which aims to cover a wide cultural field. To 
these names must be added that of Giordano, who has 
recently acquired control of II Bollettino. Mr. Giordano 
and his brothers are doing a great service in interpreting 
Italy to Americans. Great things are expected of them. 
Nor is Dr. Marcucci of II Progresso to be forgotten. 

In sociology and public afifairs above all others stands 
Dr. Felice Ferrero, formerly Director of the Italian Bu- 
reau of Public Information in New York City. Dr. Fer- 
rero has a grip on the matters that come within his prov- 
ince which makes it possible for him to speak both elo- 
quently and convincingly. The late Carlo Speranza of 
Columbia was a figure which, now missing, represents an 
irreparable loss ; Dr. Alberto Pecorini of the Springfield 
International College is an author of repute ; Prof. Dino 
Bigongiari of Columbia is well-versed in the lore of 
Dante as is also his cousin Gino Bigongiari ; Enrico 
Cadorin has won prominence as an artist as well as 
teacher ; Prof. Arbib-Costa is equalled by few and has 
written a text-book in Italian representing the last word 
in matters of its kind ; Prof. Sergio has made a name 
for himself in private teaching. The present Consul- 
General, Romolo Tritonj is a scholar as well as a dip- 
lomat and he brings to his work a marked native ability 
that has earned for him the respect of all who have 
come in contact with him. It is not too much to say that 
he has been the most well liked and efifective represen- 
tative sent to us by the Italian government. Italy 
would do well to send others of his type to us in other 
cities. 

In music the names are so numerous that only a few 
may be mentioned here. Caruso, Galli-Curci, Bonci, 
Titto Rufifo and Amato are best known ; while in 
this field one can't forget Gatti-Casazza and the younger 
impresario Marinuzzi. 

In public life New York City has a few whose names 



124 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

to-day are fairly well known. Besides Judge Freschi 
whom we have already mentioned there is former Con- 
gressman Fiorello H. La Guardia, now President of the 
Board of Aldermen and recent representative of the 
United States Army in Italy ; State Senator Salvatore 
Cotillo, member of the Economic Research Commission 
recently sent by the United States to Italy to report on 
after-war conditions and to interpret the Italian mind to 
Americans ; Caesar Barra, Charles Novello, Nicholas 
Pette and a few others have also held public office and 
gained many adherents. Formerly of New York City was 
Henry Suzzalo, now President of the University of Wash- 
ington ; also outside of New York City are Antonio Cami- 
netti, Commissioner-General of Immigration and Dr. 
Palmieri of the Congressional Library. 

In army life a host of men have come here because of 
war conditions and have impressed Americans with their 
ability, viz., General Guglielmotti and General Tozzi, head 
of the Italian Military Mission. 

Lieutenant D'Annunzio, brother of the famous poet, 
helped in the manufacture of air machines ; the Caproni 
brothers, the late Resnati, Gino, Captain Guardabassi 
are among the best known. The latter is one of the most 
popular Italians who has ever come here. 

The architect Serracino, the engineer Cavagnaro, the 
engineer and well known professor Prelini, of Manhat- 
tan College, whose text-books have been universally 
accepted as the last word in the specific fields of engineer- 
ing they cover, Immediato and a host of other mis- 
cellaneous indivxiduals whom for lack of space we omit, 
testify to the high place that these people of Italian 
blood representing the older generation have made for 
themselves in the Hfe of our city. 

THE YOUNGER GENERATION— The younger gen- 
eration today is richer in its possibilities than in its ac- 
tualities. In talking about a people so much in the 
present as are these, the difficulty is encountered that 
exists when one is making statements that are con- 
stantly being changed with the passing of each day. 

In religion the Catholics have the comparatively young 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 125 

Mgr. Arcese of Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, who is of great 
promise ; for the Protestants Emanuel Chiesa of Drew- 
Seminary, winner of Phi Beta Kappa honors, prizes in 
the Greek language, etc., deserves mention. Rev. Sar- 
torio won immediate distinction with his book called 
"Social and Religious Life of Italians in America." 

In art this type is yet in its struggling stage, and while 
a wide smattering of art talent is distinctly visible, real 
and adequate opportunity for what may be called full 
recognition has not been given. It is true that the 
recent response for artistic talent to contribute to the 
creation of the temporary arch for returning soldiers 
has brought forth an abundance of talent of Italian 
origin. Of fifteen or more artists engaged in the design- 
ing of this arch fully eight or more than 50 per cent were 
of Italian-speaking parentage. For instance the Picirilli 
brothers were engaged on the quadriga or top of the arch, 
Raphael Memoni modelled its general architectural fea- 
tures ; in various other features were engaged F. M. L. 
Tonelli, Ulysses Ricci, D. Tosti and Philip Martini. 

The lists become full again when we come to educa- 
tion. In the universities are the La Guardia brothers, 
one at the University of Illinois, the other at the Naval 
Academy, both products of Columbia University and win- 
ners of the Phi Beta Kappa key ; Colletti, formerly at 
the University of South Carolina, also holder of the Phi 
Beta Kappa key at Columbia and winner of the chief 
oratorical prize there ; Tanzola, teaching in the Columbia 
Extension, secured the signal honor of winning both the 
arts and science keys in the same institution ; Lipari at 
Toronto ; Bigongari at Columbia ; Di Bartolo at Syracuse, 
later at the University of Buffalo ; Passarelli at Cincin- 
nati ; D'Amato at Shorter College ; Salvatore of Stevens 
Institute of Technology and Furia at New York Uni- 
versity, and Carravachiol at Polytechnic Institute in 
Brooklyn, are all Phi Beta Kappa men. 

In the high schools of this city a galaxy of stars are 
noticeable, many of Phi Beta Kappa ranking. A few are 
Lieut. Leonardo Covello, the Lapolla brothers, de Bar- 
baris, Salzano, Menna, Viggiani, Porcella, Toglia, Tor- 
toro, Vessa — and so the list could be strung out. 



126 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

In the public schools the list would be even larger. 
Those who have attained more than a local distinction 
are Grande, Lodato, Calitri, Negri, Penque, Marone, 
Vespa, Milano, Ansanelli, Mirabella, and Frabl^ito. 

In the legal profession we see some of the young 
Americans of Italian extraction who unquestionably are 
to be leaders. Easily before them all stands F. R. Serri, 
winner of all the debating prizes at Yale, formerly con- 
tributing editor on the financial paper "Commerce and 
Finance" ; Leonard Sabbatino* the versatile president of 
the Italian Welfare League, is also of promising material, 
as is Nicholas Bucci, Phi Beta Kappa at Columbia, winner 
of several history and English prizes, formerly on the 
Columbia Law Review. Sidney Masone is one who is 
exceptionally equipped regarding compensation laws be- 
cause of his connection as assistant counsel for the In- 
dustrial Commission ; La Corte of Elizabeth, New Jersey, 
bids fair to become a big factor in the legal life of his 
city; Caruso of Newark, Pascarella of Emerson, New 
Jersey, have all made great strides forward and undoubt- 
edly will be prominent and indispensable in all welfare 
movements among Italian-speaking people of their com- 
munities. Barbieri, Cardone, Gamaldi, Di Carlo, Cerreta, 
Boccia, Bongiorno, Catinelli, Alacchi, Ricca, Mottola, 
Zerilli, Cuoco and Frank Verrilli are others. Ferdinand 
Pecora, Assistant District Attorney, has made an ex- 
cellent reputation. Miss Grilli of the New York Bar is 
an enterprising worker among her people and a very ef- 
fective leader. 

In medicine likewise some exceptionally high-calibered 
men are coming thru. Representative of the newer gen- 
eration is Dr. W. T. M. Liccione, winner of both the 
Arts and Medical Fraternity honors and an ex-president 
of the Columbia College Circolo Italiano, who bids 
fair to eclipse the average ; Dr. Vincent Giliberti, also 
from Columbia has an unusually good reputation and is 
now on the stafif of the Metropolitan Life ; Prof. Croce 
of Fordham Medical College, Drs. Mistretta, Brancato, 
Mangione, Martoccio, Bonvicino, Orlando, John D. Ver- 
rilli, and Salvatore are to be noted. 

* Recently appointed an Assistant District Attorney. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 127 

In social work the names are fewer, Ricciardi of 
Cornell has made some headway on the lower West Side ; 
Marra's connection with the Richmond Hill settlement 
brings him some distinction ; Armore, President of the 
Italian Intercollegiate Association has always displayed 
a social-mindedness beyond the ordinary ; Cusimano for- 
merly at Lenox Hill and Corsi at Harlem House are 
names which the future will bring to the fore again and 
again. In Queens, James Pasta has gained a large fol- 
lowing and made a unique name for himself in the public 
as well as the social life of his community and is an 
individual from whom great things are expected. 

In business Marie Frugone daughter of the former 
owner of II BoUetino is tireless. In "advertising" the 
name Malisfini attracts great attention and is exceed- 
ingly well known. The two Conti brothers from Colum- 
bia are now in business. 

In banking few of the younger generation are worthy 
of mention because they have drawn so far apart from 
the immigrant class that they do not command the neces- 
sary confidence to attract savings. Again those that 
could enter this profession are relatively few because of 
the necessity for an initial capital. Of the newer genera- 
tion, however, most important is the fact that few could 
enter this business among their own people and not feel 
misplaced, because of the un-American agencies operat- 
ing within the immigrant colonies to-day the immigrant 
bank is one of the most important. Two names however 
that might be mentioned for this class are Antonio 
Giovanazzi and Victor Salvatore who is manager of the 
Dykman Street branch of the Corn Exchange Bank. 
The first instances a case of "rapprochement" with the 
"old generation" ; the second a complete break from it. 
Recently Cotellesse and Garibaldi La Guardia have gone 
into this field. 

The recent war has brought to the fore the aviators 
Lieut. Gaipa from Rutgers, Lieut. Zunino from Prince- 
ton, Vaccaro from Harvard, and Aimee from Columbia. 
Major Laguardia and Captain Laguardia have both been 
mentioned before. 

In sculpture, Victor Salvatore has carved out a field 



128 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

for himself which brings him an unusual social as well 
as professional distinction. He first began to win dis- 
tinction at the age of fourteen, when at the St. Louis 
Exposition he was picked by St. Gaudens first in a field 
of many competitors and awarded first prize. 

In finance, both with respect to its theory and practice, 
Luigi Criscuolo has no peer among the younger Italian- 
speaking generation. His articles on the subject are 
taken as authoritative by Americans and Italians alike. 
He is the financial writer for the Independent. 

In public life no place of any moment has come to the 
younger generation that carries any distinction which 
extends beyond local confines. But a character sketch of 
one individual who was not only of the older generation 
but who up to the time of his recent death was essentially 
engaged in his life work as a political leader among the 
masses of his people, marking him distinctly as belong- 
ing to the younger generation, was James E. March. A 
recent article in "The Sun" is quoted here at length 
because of the clear picture it gives of the opportunity 
for the rise and development of an individual that may 
any day be achieved by other Americans of Italian ex- 
traction at present unknown : 

"James E. March, Republican leader of the Third As- 
sembly district, who died recently, found in America the 
opportunity wherby he was transformed from Antonio 
Maggio, peasant immigrant, into an American possess- 
ing property and political power. No one ever saw Jimmy 
March carrying a red flag or heard him sneer at the land 
into which he passed as a poor boy across the "Welcome" 
mat at Castle Garden. Thousands of other immigrants 
were stimulated by this career. 

"He landed in New York at the age of twelve with a 
harp and hopeful disposition. The city flustered him, so 
he struck into the country. For several years he worked 
for board and clothes in Lewis County, New York. His 
first wages he got for peddling milk in Lowville. He 
studied nights, passed the Regents' examination at the 
Lowville Academy, and in 1880, at the age of twenty, re- 
turned to New York. He found employment with the 
Erie Railroad, and in a short time was laying the founda- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 129 

tion for a fortune as the Erie's general contracting 
agent. 

"March employed and supervised thousands of laborers 
working on the railroad. In 1882, when he was superin- 
tendent of immigrant trains he made such a hit by stop- 
ping a disastrous longshoremen's strike that $7,657 was 
raised for him by subscription. 

"By this time Antonio Maggio had become James E. 
March. He got into East Side politics as a member of 
Tammany Hall, but after a break with the then Demo- 
cratic rulers, caused by the refusal of the Irish to let 
Italians hold office, he went over to the Republicans and 
took his following along. He became Republican leader 
of the old Sixth Assembly district, now the Third, which 
on the Democratic side was ruled by the Sullivans. Gov. 
Roosevelt made him Port Warden in 1899, in which 
period March was credited with controlling the Italian- 
born vote on the entire East Side. He was charged with 
extortion in connection with the employment bureau he 
conducted, but was acquitted. He said his political en- 
emies fabricated the accusation, altho License Commis- 
sioner Keating called him "the Kingpin of Italian pa- 
drones." 

"The trouble did not affect his political popularity, for 
of the thirty-nine Presidential Electors for New York 
State chosen in the Roosevelt-Parker campaign of 1904 
Jimmy March got the highest vote 859,533. 

"March had other stormy days which he weathered. 
The county president of his own Republican party, Her- 
bert Parsons, taxed him in 1908 with being too friendly 
with the Tammany Sullivans and refused to allow the 
men selected by March to act as inspectors on registra- 
tion day. But presently Parsons vanished from the 
political stage and March continued to rule his district 
as of old. 

"Thru the James E. March Association and in other 
ways March spent a good deal of money on charity. He 
was a member of the Republican and Catholic clubs and 
the Elks. He had much to do with making Columbus 
Day a legal holiday." 

March came to know Roosevelt so well that the ini- 



130 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

mitable Colonel was godfather to one of his children. If 
March had had behind him a systematic education he 
would unquestionably have risen to a position of national 
prominence eclipsed by no other individual of Italian 
blood in America either of the past or in the present. 

RELATION BETWEEN THE "OLD" AND "NEW" 
GENERATIONS — Frankly stated there is no coming to- 
gether between the "older" and "newer" generations. 
There are many reasons for this. The one big difference 
is that of the difference in culture. A little less important 
perhaps is the element of language. A third reason that 
may be mentioned, is the great disparity in ages. For the 
most part the type indicated as belonging to the older 
generation does its business in the Italian language and 
with a type of peoples that was and has remained 
essentially Italian. The newer generation unfortunately 
has learned too hastily to scorn what is done or said in 
the language of their ancestors. Many other contribut- 
ory causes might be mentioned if one wished to explain 
the obvious gap that exists. 

The best evidence of this lack of co-operation is the 
way different institutions are formed to cater to the 
respective tastes and social needs of the two groups. 
There is no Dante Alighieri Society among the new gen- 
eration, and their respect and sympathy for an organiza- 
tion of this sort is not great. Nevertheless that they 
have experienced the need for some such organization is 
seen in the Italian Intercollegiate Association — repre- 
senting an attempt to bring together the best brains of 
the Italian element among the rising generation of 
Americans of Italian blood. Another instance of the 
"hiatus" is the Circolo Nazionale, now the Italian Metro- 
politan Club, by the older generation. For this organiza- 
tion to be a success it is necessary that they have come 
in with them, if not the entire rank and file of the 
"newer" generation, at least their leaders. For the Ita- 
lian Metropolitan Club to enjoy a continued existence it 
is necessary that they recruit their membership from the 
best pick of the rising younger generation. In short it is 
not only expedient but necessary that the leaders of the 
"new" generation cooperate with the "older" so that the 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 131 

membership of the younger groupings may be fed into 
the organizations of the older generation and thereby 
establish continuity in an organization that has estab- 
lished its right to existence by virtue of its usefulness. 
Unfortunately no indication for this "rapprochement" is 
discernible. 

On the other hand what has occurred is this. The new 
generation feeling keenly the need for a club house that 
would make social intercourse possible have their plans 
completed for the securing of an entire building designed 
to fulfill their social, intellectual and recreational needs. 
As matters stand today these plans are fully matured and 
await the first favorable moment to actually materialize. 

The writer who is conversant with the situation as it 
exists does not believe that in this split or division of 
factors as it were, the best values that develop thru a 
sane and harmonious cooperation are being secured by 
each group. It seems that the above condition is a pre- 
ventive to any intelligent attempt to conduct any sus- 
tained cooperative action such as is necessary for suc- 
cess. 

It appears that the old generation needs the new, and 
that this is the need that will continue to grow with 
time. Nevertheless it cannot be gainsaid that the new 
generation needs the old if they wish to be at all effect- 
ive. There is no doubt that in this particular instance a 
great deal more might be done in the way of cooperation 
and that, measured by its fruits, the cooperative spirit 
among Americans of Italian extraction has netted but 
little that is today permanently and commendably visible. 
It appears that only by presenting a united front will 
such Americans ever be able to command respect and 
compel attention to the more crying needs of a social, 
economic, educational, recreational nature that are gap- 
ingly open in Italian districts. In doing this they would 
be but imitating what the older Americans of Irish, 
Jewish and other descents have done before them. 



132 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XVI 
RECAPITULATION 

In veiw of all the foregoing can there be said to exist 
an Italian psychology for these Americans of Italian line- 
age in America, and can it be said to be objectionable? 
We hear much about Italian psychology and have been 
impressed with its difference from our own. Have we 
been over-impressed? We have seen that the mental 
traits described above are not a thing "sui generis" with 
these Americans of Italian blood, but are universal. What 
were represented were race lines it is true, but lines cut 
across by individual differences. No true psychology 
holds that racial qualities do not exist, but neither does 
it make a fetish of such differences. The important thing 
for us here is that psychological traits are primarily 
individual ; only when taken collectively do they become 
racial. Today psychologists agree that "intra-group" 
differences are greater than "inter-group" differences. 

The traits described run through the entire gamut of 
possible mental reactions from the very high and most 
commendable to the very low and most deprecatory of 
all the strains that enter into American life showing 
"high variability" to be one of the outstanding features 
of the mental life of the Italian. The contention made 
here though, and maintained throughout is that from 
the standpoint of race no significant differences exist 
between these and other individuals of other racial des- 
cents. Races do differ. Mental and even moral dif- 
ferences do exist, but whether we may conclude from 
this that these differences denote superiority or inferior- 
ity is not the same question. It has been said that the 
races making up our "new" immigration (and this in- 
cludes the Italian) lack the innate capacity of self- 
government. If this is so, then the words of Sir Horace 
Plunkett are apropos namely "if any race is lacking in 
the powers of self-government than what that race needs 
most is self-government." 

The Irish, Italians, English and French differ in art, 
language, literature and science. As Giddings says, "the 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 133 

Italian is notoriously a man relatively interested in the 
plastic arts by comparison with the Swedes or Nor- 
weg'ians. On the sta.^e the Neapolitan is different from 
a Finn or a Dane whether you saw or heard him. As 
good an approach to this analysis as anything else is to 
mention at the beginning certain commonly noticed 
reactions. The Italians have been notoriously successful 
in painting, sculpture and art in general. Northern 
people are not notoriously successful in these things. 
Northern peoples are notoriously dramatic, emotional 
and imaginative ; instance the great tales of Siegfried, 
the marvellous dramatic feelings of the Icelandic Tales, 
the dramatic qualities of German opera, of Wagner, Bach 
and of Niebelungen." 

"The central people, the Slavs are almost equally no- 
torious in literature. Especially are the great Russian 
novelists noted for the feelings associated with the 
homely affairs of life in sentimental qualities tho not 
in the gushy sense and the entirely different reactions 
toward the tragedies of life in the novels of Dostoievsky 
Tolstoy and Turgeneff — all differing from the North- 
western dramatists. Evidently there is no mixing of 
these two." 

"The Irish and Welsh Tales, the Arthurian legend in 
England and the legendary Tales of Scotland form an- 
other different type. Nor can we easily confuse the deli- 
cate play of fancy in the fairy tales of Ireland with the 
play of imagination in the Danish tales and the tales of 
the Rhine region." 

"Which is highest and which is lowest cannot be an- 
swered directly, if answered at all. The outstanding fact 
is that these cultures are different. Are the causes in 
the blood or are they due to environment and training? 
Psychologists are still at loggerheads in their definition 
of instinct. No one will disagree if we say that by 
instinct we mean certain complexes of reactions that are 
innate, that are already there and don't have to be 
learned by trial and error processes, and represent the 
equipment with which the individual is born."* 

*Giddings, F. H. Lectures in Inductive Sociology (Columbia 
University, 1915). 



134 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

If the differences we observed between races like the 
Itahans and the Anglo-Saxon are inherited instincts in 
the blood, then the only way to change the American 
of Italian extraction is by synthetization, thru marriage ; 
not by school systems, political parties or religious insti- 
tutions. It is yet to be found whether these differences 
that we observed between the Italian race and other 
races with regard to literature, art, politics, etc., are 
instinctive or a result of habit. 

Meanwhile it would not be unwise to continue with 
these peoples on the assumption that their contribution 
is something desirable and to assist them in every way 
to make it possible for them to contribute their greatest 
possible portion in the great task of the evolution of a 
stable American type. 

Italy in the past has contributed mightily to the en- 
lightenment of the world and the march of civilization. 
This contribution has been expressed by the editor of the 
National Geographic Magazine as follows : "Italy, the 
mother of civilization, of art and of science and the 
cradle of intellectual liberty began fighting the invaders 
from the North one thousand years before the discovery 
of America. She has given to the world Marcus Aure- 
lius, Dante, Columbus, John Cabot, Leonardo De Vinci, 
Galileo and in more recent times Volta, Galvani, Gari- 
baldi, Verdi and Marconi. 

"Just as the new world was given to civilization by 
her great navigators Columbus and Cabot so were the 
infinite realms of space revealed to man thru the gift of 
the telescope from Galileo that monumental genius who 
also helped to perfect the compound microcospe which 
made modern medicine and modern chemistry possible. 
Likewise it was Marconi's gift of wireless telegraphy 
which makes the observation airplane a truly potent 
factor in battle." 

"One of the marvels of human history is this extra- 
ordinary Italian race that for two thousand years has 
blessed the world with a succession of geniuses, musi- 
cians, authors, creations of inspiration and advancement 
from which all other people have benefited."* 

* The Italian Race, National Geographic Magazine, January, 
1918, p. 47, 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 135 

So much for civilization, art and science. In govern- 
ment the same holds true. Prof. Giddings in dissipating 
the notions that the foundations of modern democratic 
society together with everything really great and w^orth 
while in our social system, political life and international 
influence, had their origins in the German forests and 
were carried over by Angles, Jutes and Saxons to Eng- 
land supplanting all other civilizations including Roman — ■ 
declaring this to be a stupendous myth said : "that there 
was nothing inherent in the Teutonic system or its 
origins that proved adequate to creating a nation polit- 
ically unified, competent and coherent. As a matter of 
fact no such nation was ever created until created by 
the genius of a man who owed nothing to the tradition 
and habits of Teutonic thought ; that the men with him 
who went to the British Isles helping to create a co- 
herent and enduring system were largely in blood Celtic 
and Mediterranean and were trained in the traditions of 
Roman political organization and Roman law and took 
these traditions and ideas to Brittany and evolved the 
whole system of Federal political organization combin- 
ing centralized control with local independence and self- 
government, in fact the whole structure and characteris- 
tics of British Imperialism and the Federal system of 
the United States — all this was never dreamed of by 
the Teutonic mind. It was the invention of the Roman 
mind. If any original people were endowed with polit- 
ical genius it is not the English or the Teuton. It is the 
Italian."* 

The Italian comes here and brings to our shores a 
strong hardihood of physique that is rarely excelled. His 
temperament is of that buoyant, joyful, optimistic kind 
that makes life at all times seem very interesting. As 
Dean Keppel of Columbia told the writer "the Italian is 
a boon companion, is always well-liked, because he is 
happy, optimistic, light-spirited and has that artistic 
intellectuality which we Americans of older generations 
lack and is always surprising us with his apparently in- 

* Giddings, Franklin H., Columbia University Lectures — "His- 
tory of Civilization," 1916. 



136 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

exhaustible abundance of optimism, enthusiasm and joy 
of living.* 

They add also a strong sympathetic nature based 
perhaps upon the intense appreciation of family life and 
family ties, the spirit of which the child of Italian 
parentage has had early inculcated within him. But this 
is not all. There is also an innate efifervescent sponta- 
neity flowing as much perhaps from the "high variabil- 
ity" inherent in the fundamental capacities of the race 
as from anything else. Italians are apt to be very good 
or very bad — the ratio of mediocrity is as low within 
this race as it is anywhere else in the world. This alone 
means an elevated ratio of "high variability." When we 
consider that human progress is measured largely by 
the achievements of the few at the top or upper levels — 
rather than by the mass compromising the average, we 
see the significance of the above. 

We can now understand how out of this fertile soil of 
brilliancy, genius and inventiveness of a nervous, varia- 
ble, emotional and artistic type can crop out a Dante, a 
Da Vinci, a Raphael, a Michael Angelo, a Galileo or com- 
ing down to more modern times a Columbus, a Cavour, 
and a Marconi. 

Undoubtedly the capacities for entertaining the same 
ideas, or experiencing like emotions, of feeling similar 
sentiments, of striving for desirable ends, are universal. 
But nevertheless we think, feel and act differently as 
races. For the kind of proportions and degrees of re- 
lationships that obtain between combinations of different 
ideas and emotions "varies from individual to individual 
as it varies from race to race." A student of racial psy- 
chology therefore will not find his attitude with respect 
to the uniformity of germinal potentialities irreconcil- 
able or even offended by the numerous patent demon- 
strations of individual differences existing alongside of 
racial characteristics. Differences intra-groups can be 
and perhaps are greater than differences inter-groups. 

One sees that the idealistic enthusiasms of the Italian- 
American is something "sui-generis" and he feels as if 

* Keppel, F. P. — "The Italian at Columbia." The Italian In- 
tercollegiate, Vol. 1, p. 8. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 137 

there was more cheerfulness in it than is apparent in the 
usual American idealism. One reason is because it 
represents a freer attitude towards certain traditions of 
American life. Outwardly at least it contains a larger 
dose of healthy sentiment. It follows more closely lines 
of friendship and loyalty. It talks more of sympathy. 
Its greater passion seems more suited to general con- 
cepts and inclusive principles. It has a gaiety all its own. 
With a cohesivity of sentiment and yet a flexibility of 
motive for all that, it combines into a paradox, which 
only the naive nonchalance of the light-hearted Latin 
has been able to systematically set aside while playing 
with it at the risk of being crushed. 

As Bagot puts this paradox, the American of Italian 
birth springs from a people for the most part forming a 
peasant class that is skeptical, suspicious, intensely 
shrewd and "while not infrequently egoistic yet extra- 
ordinarily disinterested and generous." * 

Universal education, as we have it to-day in our 
American democracy, is the greatest of levellers, and 
the American of Italian extraction is showing by his re- 
actions in our public school system how responsive he is 
to all that is really American. 

* Bagot, Richard, Italians of Today, p. 36. 



138 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

PART IV 

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 

CHAPTER XVII 

INTRODUCTION 

DEFINITION OF TERMS— The term "social organ- 
ization" is essentially sociological and it is in this sense 
that is used throughout in this study. The economical, 
educational, political, esthetic and religious interests of a 
group serve to unify themselves about some central pur- 
pose or object. We speak of this object when crystal- 
lized in institutions as denoting a form of "social organi- 
zation" and use it to distinguish the degree of complexity 
effected with all of the above elements joined and also, 
though only incidentally, to include the grade or merit 
with which we regard the associational character of any 
such stratum of life. 

BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION— It is well to explain 
here the basis for the classification of the different types 
of organization described. In no sense is it to be under- 
stood that because an organization is listed as an "ath- 
letic club," is partakes of nothing that is of a "civic" or 
"religious" character. On the contrary the opposite 
may very well be the case. For instance the Ozanam 
Association is listed as a "religious club," yet to all out- 
ward appearances this club does everything that it ath- 
letic and social and nothing that is "religious." 

All of the organizations to be described exist then for 
a multiplicity of purposes and serve their members in 
many different ways. A constant overlapping of func- 
tion exists in all. But in every case there is some one 
major activity or purpose that the group as an organiza- 
tion is designated to promote or at least to which it owes 
its existence and it is this activity that serves as the 
basis for the classifications herein made. 

It is also understood that the list of names under any 
one type of organization scheduled, unless so stated, is 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 139 

illustrative and not exhaustive. It has been manifestly 
impossible to make a list that would include all of these 
groupings of individuals, in some cases including as few 
as five or six individuals, nevertheless to whom the term 
league or association has been applied. Often in the 
groups selected no outward indication exists to show 
that all or even the majority of the members composing 
it are of Italian blood. 

It has been noticed that as a rule the type of organiza- 
tion here listed reflects closely and corresponds to the 
type of minds described, i. e., we find that it is the 
"tenement" or "settlement" type that is forming what I 
have termed the "athletic" and the "social" club ; the 
"Y. M. C. A." or "college" type that is forming the "edu- 
cational circolo"; and the professional type that is en- 
gaged in organizing the "welfare league" or "associa- 
tion." It will also be noticed that organizations are 
described which in structure and function are in no way 
similar to institutions or organizations to be found 
among immigrants proper. The reason for this is two- 
fold: (1) the types of organization described are products 
of Americans who are operating in an American envi- 
ronment ; (2) the aims of these organizations are dia- 
metrically opposed to the aims of immigrant institutions 
because they reflect the different needs and tastes of a 
different people. 



140 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XVIII 

TYPES OF ORGANIZATION 

THE SOCIAL CLUB 

PARTICULAR GROUP— The most spontaneous and 
perhaps the most influential type of grouping that exists 
in the more thickly populated Italian colonies is the 
"social club." It is inevitable that individuals of the 
class composing the "tenement" or "settlement" type 
form little groups by themselves. It frequently happens 
that in a small area of two square blocks there may be 
four nuclei of groups or cliques that meet together and 
act for the most part independently of each other. 

Each such nucleus, while all the members composing 
it are known to each other by sight at least, acts for all 
cooperative purposes as a community within a com- 
munity, invariably forming itself into a club for purposes 
that at first, at any rate, are largely social and recrea- 
tional. It would be impossible to list or even to designate 
the actual number of such existing groups. A good many 
of them have a mushroom growth — springing up over 
night as it were — only to pass quickly away for some 
slight or insignificant reason. 

The writer strolled along Mulberry Street, which is 
the main artery of the large Italian colony downtown on 
the East Side and noticed placards proclaiming the 
existence of at least thirty such clubs as fall within this 
category, all within the short space of four blocks. The 
names of such clubs are extremely varied. Samples 
taken at random in the Italian colony include the Sixth 
Ward, Rose, Downtown, Emerson, Huskies, Caldwell, 
etc. Clubs forming in settlements adopt names of a 
softer tone such as the Violets, Mazzini Circle, Ken- 
mare, Jupiter, etc. 

For our purposes it will be illuminating to go into the 
origin of one of these clubs which practically is the 
history of a goodly average, and describe in detail its 
program and execution. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 141 

The particular group studied in this connection is one 
of the worst of its kind and therefore for our purposes 
best and is located in the large Italian colony just off the 
Five Points section. The "Huskies Association" exerts 
a powerful influence upon the tenement element of 
Americans of Italian extraction in and about Mulberry 
Bend Park. It was organized in 1914 and the members 
having no rooms of their own, meet at the quarters of 
the Sixth Ward Social Club located at 16 Bowery. About 
eighteen members all of Italian extraction make up the 
group. A "Husky" in the vernacular of the street is a 
"bum" or as they themselves say "one who won't work." 
When they desire to be facetious they call themselves 
"the Sons of Rest." 

The strange thing about this club is that it has no 
organization or written constitution and holds no regular 
meetings. One individual is the recognized leader and 
bosses the "gang." Nor are any dues paid. The me- 
chanics of organization are reduced to a skeleton. 

TYPES OF MEMBERS— The ages of the members of 
the Husky Association range from twenty to thirty 
years. One third are married. The majority are em- 
ployed as truckmen, dock-helpers, chauffeurs, etc. They 
have had a smattering of education in the public schools 
and speak little Italian. To the last man the members 
are Americans, say they are, and are proud of it. Being 
self-governing the members require a certain amount 
of free spending money for organization and individual 
activities. In age the members of such groups are rarely 
less than eighteen. 

TYPES OF ACTIVITY— The pleasures that these 
clubs afford are exactly what this type of member seeks 
— pleasures of a sensory and motory kind. This is dis- 
played in the most frequent diversions that the group 
as an organization conducts ; namely, dances and out- 
ings. On such occasions the members invite their friends. 
For the most part the radius of the circle of friends is 
limited to those living in the immediate neighborhood 
or, as in other clubs those working in the same shop. 

The personal characteristics of this type reflect in a 
very large measure the limited degree of opportunity 



142 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

in life from an educational and financial standpoint that 
these people enjoy. Of very limited schooling their type 
of organization and of pleasures shows instability and 
simplicity. Their enjoyments reflect pleasures of the 
moment and of the senses rather than of the mind. One 
writer says of them, "It is these children of the Italians 
who in their untoward enthusiasm for things American 
despise the ways of their fathers and lose their love for 
Italy and their pride in their Italian blood." 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF ORGANIZATION TO 
COMMUNITY — It is safe to say that the hiatus between 
the two generations i. e., the older and the younger, is 
nowhere so marked nor are the lines drawn anywhere 
so sharply as they are in this case. The interests of a 
club such as this street club in no way coincide with 
those belonging to the older half of the community. In 
many cases the money that is spent by the younger gen- 
eration in the enjoyments of the organization's activities 
is far more than what is salutary. Usually it is obtained 
at the expense of not contributing to the home or main- 
tenance of a proper standard of living in the home of 
which the older generation forms a part. 

As w^e have seen the intellectual character of such an 
organization is reduced to a minimum if it is not alto- 
gether nil. The community suffers rather than gains 
because of its existence as no relation or coordination of 
any description exists with these bodies either among 
themselves or with other institutions excepting with 
bar-rooms and pool-parlors. Such groups exist apart 
with purely individual interests, are temporary in char- 
acter and serve to generate a narrow individualism 
among the members. 

Organization is on a small scale and the ends such 
an organization serves, it is to be readily seen, are im- 
mediate and sensory. Little opportunity is afforded to 
provoke intelligent discussion, stimulate foresight or 
ambition, afford practice in self-control and participa- 
tion in the ends that lie outside of self. 

One important feature this kind of organization offers 
its members is practice in self-management and club- 
procedure. The Nameoka Club for instance conducts 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 143 

meetings in regular parliamentary procedure. Members 
are made to respect law and order in meetings at least. 
Such meetings are a miniature or copy of what they 
meet with and encounter in the local ward political club. 
In fact, these social clubs afford excellent material to be 
used by the ward politicians for campaign purposes. 

To a very great extent this organization is a result 
of the conditions within which the American of Italian 
extraction lives. It is his effort to express himself. Too 
often of course are seen the effects of inadequate leader- 
ship. The community exercises no influence on such a 
club because there is no community spirit or organiza- 
tion nor has there ever been any. Neither has the club 
anything to offer the community except its perverted 
instincts. The club's sole reason for existence is to 
afford its members pleasure. 

Such organizations under different names can be du- 
plicated in every one of the Italian colonies scattered 
thruout the Greater City, wherever there is a tenement 
population and where the prevailing type of adult worker 
is the immigrant. But the identity does not cease with 
the Italian. The duplication is possible also in the Jew- 
ish, Irish, German and Bohemian quarters of the city, 
and was more true in the past than in the present. If it 
is permitted one to pass a judgment it is a condition that 
in the future will be duplicated in the Greek and Polish 
quarters of our city. It would seem therefore that there 
is nothing in this description of the Italian quarter and 
the social organization therein effected among Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction that is peculiar to this type or 
is a thing "sui generis." It is rather a reflection of the 
character or nature of the more general American social 
organization into which this type of American has to fit 
himself. This condition is American or un-American just 
as we may wish to look at it ; it is not related to or 
similar to anything European or foreign. 

THE ATHLETIC CLUB 

PARTICULAR GROUP— This type of organization 
that I have labelled "athletic club" resembles in many 
ways the larger and more well-known organizations of 



144 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

a type similar to the New York Athletic Club, the Mo- 
hawk Athletic Club, the Pastime Athletic Club, etc., 
excepting that the organization that we shall describe 
and those similar to it are conducted on a very much 
smaller scale. 

The fact is significant that despite the well-known 
place that athletes of Italian extraction have made for 
themselves in the fields of sport, no large athletic club 
exists catering exclusively to them, upon purely racial 
lines. This is so because first it shows a subordination of 
things Italian to those American, and argues for the 
fact that so thoro has been the absorption that a separate 
organization is not needed; second, in organization as 
well as in function we have a splendid instance of team 
play. 

At the same time there is a distinct resemblance be- 
tween the "athletic" club we are describing here and the 
"social" club previously talked about. In its earlier 
stages the sole difference is the nature of the pleasure 
sought — a difference not over great- — motor not sen- 
sory pleasure being that which is chiefly sought. 

In numbers these clubs are not so numerous as the 
others. The main reason for this is that there are not 
so many individuals who have the time necessary to 
become proficient in any one sport, to feel repaid for 
following it intensively ; secondly there is the fact that 
upon becoming proficient such member shifts his center 
of interest from the "local" athletic club (maintained 
along race lines) to one of the larger "athletic" clubs 
uptown mentioned above. 

We take for our particular grouping as being repre- 
sentative of this type the Nameoka Athletic Club. Its 
meeting place is at 326 Canal Street. Located as it is in 
the vicinity of Chinatown its membership includes several 
Americans of Chinese extraction representing offspring 
of mixed parentage. The name Nameoka was chosen 
because of the admiration that the members have for 
the athletic prowess of the Indians. It was incorporated 
in 1904. The club's constitution says that the organiza- 
tion is designed "to provide for the social, physical and 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 145 

educational welfare of its members and to promote ath- 
letics in general." 

The club started its existence at 80 Lafayette Street 
but eventually as "business" crept into the district they 
were forced to move and to locate in a more residential 
section. The club moved to Canal, corner of Hester 
Street where it occupies the entire two upper floors using 
these as meeting rooms and gymnasium. 

The war depleted the membership greatly, eighty- 
seven out of one hundred and two joining "the colors," 
leaving but a remnant to conduct its various activities. 
Dues are fifty cents a month and meetings are held 
regularly once a month. Members are employed chiefly 
as follows ; machinists, electricians, carpenters, linotype 
operators, plumbers, business men, policemen, firemen, 
municipal and government employees, post-office clerks 
and postal carriers. Most of the members have a com- 
mon school education ; about twenty had completed high 
school, and a bare half dozen had entered college. All, 
with the exception of three were citizens. This particu- 
lar group is composed of Americans of Italian extraction 
85 per cent of whose parents are Genoese. 

The chief activity indulged in is basket-ball. The 
Nameoka Athletic Basket Ball Team is the best in 
the neighborhood. Other activities include the usual 
gymnasium games interspersed with picnics, balls, family 
outings, club parties for the members and their lady 
visitors, just as is true of most clubs on the East Side. 

One of the major items of interest is the Civil Service 
class that the Club organized and consistently supported. 
An instructor was engaged for several evenings a 
week who presented the essentials of American citizen- 
ship to these Americans of the East Side. This served to 
stimulate the interest of the club members in local polit- 
ics, and the members of the district election boards for 
the neighborhood are sure to have several Nameoka 
men on them. The writer served as an election official 
on the same Election Board in one of the worst districts 
of New York City just off the Bowery with the Presi- 
dent of the Nameoka Club for two consecutive years and 
learned to admire the resolute and intelligently informed 



146 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

way in which he and other Nameokians played their part 
in helping along good government in a district infested 
with much that is un-American. 

TYPE OF MEMBER— The members of this group 
both with respect to age and degree of education are in 
no way very different from those described as making 
up the "social club." Some individuals are in fact mem- 
bers of both. The main difference seems to be that mem- 
bers of this latter club like physical exercise more. This 
is not to say that they do without the sensory pleasures 
of the former, but simply that in their individual scale 
of relative values some particular hobby such as basket- 
ball or baseball or running has a larger place. 

TYPE OF ACTIVITY— Perhaps the most common 
form of athletics indulged in by such individuals is 
basketball in the winter and baseball in summer. Begin- 
ning in the fall the athletic chairman announces the 
schedules of games to be played thruout the season. 
These games are distributed between the home court 
and that of their opponents if the latter have one. Such 
affairs are attended by the club's adherents and these 
matches are the occasion for a good deal of betting. Not 
infrequently a match will not be effected excepting that 
a purse be offered. According to the statement of C. 
Dondero, the champion semi-professional basketball 
player of New York State, "the chief interest that 
attaches to the game is the betting." 

When the athletic club has a strong following and is 
playing a winning game consistently it is able to com- 
bine the"athletic" with the "social" so that the financial 
end shows a considerable surplus. An instance in point 
is the case of the well-known Cathedral Separates, a 
professional basketball team that was a member of the 
Tri-State League. The members of this team, composed 
of Americans of Italian extraction, were in the day-time 
engaged in such work as postal carriers, bookkeepers and 
pressfeeders. Their evenings on Saturdays and Sundays 
were spent in playing professional basketball. The Cathe- 
dral Separates engaged Arlington Hall located on 8th 
Street a short distance from the Italian colony down- 
town, for each Sunday afternoon thruout the entire 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 147 

season. The forenoon was spent in playing a match 
game of basketball for stakes and the remainder of the 
afternoon and evening was given up to dancing and 
drinking and feasting. For all this recreation the one 
entertained was charged the modest sum of twenty-five 
cents. In this way this team secured a support for their 
own athletic activity that otherwise would have been 
impossible. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— The 
"athletic club" also is distinctly separated from the in- 
terests of the community and of the older generation. It 
stimulates no civic interest or responsibility. It fosters 
an intense partisanry about a little nucleus — the team. 
The imminent aim of this organization is immediate and 
individual, namely pleasure. The older folks do not 
understand the modern American sports and recreation 
and frequently oppose them. Never having had any 
"play" themselves they believe that their children are 
growing up improperly and become lazy thru overplay. 
Much of this aversion to American games is due also to 
the strenuousness involved and the consequent fear that 
injury will follow. 

Membership in this type of club has a more broaden- 
ing eiTect than is true of the previous case because of the 
wider contacts established. Opposing clubs coming from 
all parts of the city and without limitations of race are 
naturally more broadening in their contacts. It is very 
common for Americans of Italian extraction to play 
against Americans of Jewish extraction. This is so be- 
cause they are so nearly alike in aims and type. The 
games scheduled by the Nameoka Club for one season 
showed six nationalities as opponents, viz: Irish, Jews, 
Germans, Chinese, Bohemian, English, and their games 
called for travelling to such scattered places as Rock- 
ville Centre, Patchogue, L. I., Troy, Rochester. 

In duration of time such clubs exist only as they make 
a successful showing in the forms of athletics followed. 
Otherwise the membership roll registers a fall. Often a 
club simply grows itself out of existence. The time 
passes all too soon when one can play basketball, and 
when sufficient new blood is not forthcoming: the club 



148 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

disbands of its own accord. The youngster of seventeen 
who is eligible to enter such a club would sooner form a 
separate organization of his own rather than enter one 
whose members average twenty-six years of age, and 
where his opinion is not valued very highly. The club 
therefore represents a transient stage in the development 
of the American of Italian extraction. This is the stage 
when he is most active physically. 

THE RELIGIOUS CLUB 
1. THE CATHOLIC CLUB 

INTRODUCTION— In describing this type of organi- 
zation as it is affected by Americans of Italian extrac- 
tion, we will consider two kinds of clubs ; that organized 
under Catholic, and that under Protestant auspices. 
While their aims are similar, their methods are in some 
ways different. 

Most Americans of Italian extraction are Catholic. 
In Italy only three per cent of the people are Protestants. 
In America Protestants among Italians are more numer- 
ous, but the percentage is overwhelmingly in favor of the 
Catholics. Mangano may be said to fail perhaps to stress 
the actual conditions that exist when he says in this 
connection : "Out of 600,000 Italian people in greater 
New York, the Roman Church, by its own figures, lays 
claim to only 180,135 members of Roman Catholic Italian 
churches. This includes children and is less than one- 
third the total population."* Recently compiled statis- 
tics showed what the different Protestant denominations 
have accomplished in their work among Italians in the 
United States, viz : 

Approximate 
Churches Number of 

Denomination and Missions Communicants 

Presbyterian 103 12,800 

Congregational 39 1,000 

Baptist 65 3,000 

EpiscopaHan 15 1,600 

Methodist 52 9,000 

The numerical superiority of Catholic churches and 
* Mangano, Antonio. "Sons of Italy," p. 154. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 149 

communicants is so patent as to need no showing. The 
Catholic Church recognizing the need for the extra- 
church activities among its people has organized different 
clubs with names that are similar thruout all their par- 
ishes and that in no very great way are different from 
the social activities and religious societies that are 
started and kept up among Catholic parishes where 
the people are of different stock. In discussing the or- 
ganization and activities of Ozanam Association No. 5 
located in the dense Italian colony at Mulberry Bend we 
are not describing the form of an organization which is 
different from Ozanam Association No. 7 located in the 
heart of an Irish section. 

PARTICULAR GROUPS— Ozanam Association No. 5 
is connected with the Italian church of the Transfigura- 
tion of which the Rev. E. Coppo, Provincial of the Sale- 
sian Order, is the Pastor. Its athletic director is Denis 
J. Cronin. Ozanam Association No. 5 enjoys the use of 
a separate building on Park Street a few paces from 
Mulberry Bend Park. The equipment is substantial but 
of a past day and the well-worn character of the build- 
ing, at least of some of it, attests to the rough usage to 
which it must have been subjected. 

The Ozanam Association is very similar to the Italian 
Catholic Club which is also described here. Both stand 
for the social improvement of the American of Italian 
extraction. The social uplift is concomitant with an 
attempt to keep up religious practises. 

The Italian Catholic Club so-called because it repre- 
sented an offshoot of a group that had for years met at 
the parish house of the Old Catholic Cathedral on Prince 
and Mulberry Streets, was organized in 1911 and incor- 
porated a year later. 

The Italian Catholic Club now meets at its own club 
rooms not far from the Old Cathedral where they pay 
an annual rental of $300. The club membership 
totals 150 and the ages range from 16 to 35. Mem- 
bership is largely made up of workers in the skilled 
trades. There is a predominance of electricians and 
skilled auto mechanics. The next most common em- 



150 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

ployment is that of office workers such as law clerks and 
bookkeepers. Such members represent a scant fourth 
in the membership. There are four lawyers and also 
three doctors. Dues are fixed at fifty cents a month and 
meetings are held twice a month. About twenty-five of 
the men are married. 

The chief recreation of the members is secured thru 
socials, dances, checkers, pinochle and other card games. 
Basketball also is extremely popular and vies with card 
playing for first place. 

TYPE OF MEMBERS— The type of members joining 
these clubs is more subject to the influence of elders than 
are the members of the previous clubs. One reason for 
this is the fact that the ages are somewhat lower and 
they seem to be more amenable to guidance. There is also 
apt to be a difference in education favoring the members 
of the latter class. A distribution according to the school- 
ing of the two religious organizations mentioned is : 

Public School High College 

Gradute School Graduates 

Italian Catholic Club 114 22 14 

Ozanam Association No. 5 155 38 7 

To a certain extent the educational influence of such 
club life is colored with a religious flavor. One of the 
prerequisites for membership in each group is that the 
prospective candidate be sympathetic with Catholicism. 

Not unimportant also is the fact that the individuals 
frequenting these clubs are more subject to parental 
influence. Paternalism goes farther with them. This is 
not to say that they are more Italian and less American 
than are the members of the social or the athletic clubs 
but simply that by virtue of temperament and constitu- 
tion the members of the religious club are more strongly 
inclined to follow out the customs in vogue in Italian 
homes. 

TYPE OF ACTIVITY— The activities that such clubs 
undertake are numerous and varied and suited to the ages 
of the different individuals of the group. In a Catholic 
church there is almost sure to be something of a musical 
training, tied up to the actual work of the church per- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 151 

haps by their choir singing or church music. This is 
true also of the Protestant churches. Band training for 
the boys is common; Catholic Brigades, Boy Scout 
Troops, Fife and Drum Corps and Cadets, etc., attest to 
the varied as well as practical turn of the recreational 
opportunities afforded. 

Other features common to all church-going people of 
whatever racial stock, are socials, church dances, raffles, 
outings, May parties, Halloween parties. Thanksgiving 
entertainments, etc. A description of these is not offered 
as they are in no way different from those of other races. 

II. THE PROTESTANT CLUB 

INTROD)UCTION— The other kind of religious club 
that remains to be noted is that organized within the 
Protestant Church. There are in all about 76 Protestant 
churches in New York City divided among the different 
denominations as follows : 

Presbyterian 22 

Baptist 18 

Episcopalian 17 

Methodist 19 

Of the total number of Protestants in New York City, 
it is certain that a definite portion goes for the pecuniary 
rewards that the church gives. It is impossible to say 
of what proportion this holds true. 

TABERNACLE YOUNG MEN'S CLUB 

PARTICULAR GROUP— The Broome Street Taber- 
nacle is one of the oldest Protestant Mission churches 
in the city, having been erected in 1865. At its begin- 
ning, its members were chiefly of English, Scotch and 
German stocks, but with the rapid infiltration of the 
Italian population in the district, all this has been radi- 
cally changed. The membership today is entirely Italian. 
This church is conducted under the auspices of the City 
Mission Society of which Dr. A. F. Schauffler is the 
head. 

TYPE OF MEMBERS— -The Young Men's Tabernacle 
Club in its balmiest days totalled anywhere from forty 



152 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

to sixty members, and was considered one of the most 
progressive Protestant Clubs in any Italian-speaking 
church thruout the city. This fact was largely due to 
the unusually exceptional leadership that the club en- 
joyed. Roswell Arrighi, son of the well known pastor 
of the church, Antonio Arrighi, makes this club a special 
hobby of his. Furthermore, Miss Edith H. White for- 
merly associated with Wm. R. George of the George 
Junior Republic and in this connection known as "Aunty" 
also spent considerable time there. Miss White has held 
the leadership of this group for nearly eight years. 

The average age of the members is twenty-four. Most 
of them are employed in the mechanical trades ; a few 
are clerical workers and a bare half-dozen are students 
in schools and universities. In disposition and personal 
characteristics the members of the Protestant Club 
present no great differences from the types of such as 
frequent similar clubs in the Catholic institutions. 
Neither can be said to be more American than the other; 
the average amount of schooling obtained within the 
groups as a whole is practically the same; the pleasures 
followed are identical ; both feel that they are Americans 
and act so. 

TYPE OF ACTIVITY— Membership in this particular 
group is dependent upon attendance in some Bible Class. 
This religious activity has an important grip upon the 
lives of these individuals because the weekly meetings 
are interesting and instructive. Their more frequent 
and perhaps more gripping contacts are those secured 
in the social intercourse gained in their meetings and 
thruout their recreational and physical activities. The 
general rounds of socials, games, parties, picnics, stags, 
church festivals, entertainments and young people's 
meetings are all entered into with zest. Their effects 
are generally sensory. The all-around pleasures de- 
scribed allow for a fair measure of ideational values 
which is something we note for the first time in our 
description of the "Social Organizations" of these people. 

The wholesome and beneficial contacts established in 
this club are such as to call forth the first note of com- 
mendation so far to be noted in discussing the co- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 153 

operative features of Americans of Italian extraction. 
The religious club, both Catholic and Protestant, while 
conservative, is the first solidly rooted social institution 
of which real progress can be predicated. In no funda- 
mental way so far as the American of Italian extraction 
is concerned can there be said to be any great difference 
in these clubs from those of similar clubs in the Catholic 
church and Protestant church conducted among other 
people. Activities are conducted with the same end in 
view — spiritual instruction and physical enjoyment of 
a clean and wholesome kind. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF RELIGIOUS CLUBS 
TO COMMUNITY— The relation of these clubs to the 
community is intimate and important. First, because to 
a very large extent it is the first form of organized 
activity we have encountered that places one under the 
control and makes him subject to the supervision of 
others. Such overhead supervision serves to see to it 
that the membership is homogeneous in one important 
element at least — the religious; that the activities are 
purposive and that as a unit the group and its activities 
are correlated with an institution. 

Its relation to the community is "set" and "adjusted" 
and is likely to continue after the time that individuals 
making up the present group pass away. The measure 
of license and free control that characterized the pre- 
vious groups is absent here. But more important than 
the relation to the institution and its administration is 
the relation between the home and the younger genera- 
tion making up these units. 

The adult immigrant is sympathetic with this kind of 
organization because (1) the religion behind it is similar 
to the one that he professes and that commands his con- 
fidence ; (2) he knows definitely where his son is and in a 
general way is conversant with the activities for which 
the clubs stand. Neither of these is true in the cases 
previously considered. Often tho when the American of 
Italian extraction attends the Protestant club it is done 
surreptitiously and without the parent's knowledge. 



154 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

THE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION 

PARTICULAR GROUPS— These organizations are 
not popular with the younger generation, tho among 
thie adult Italian they have a wide vogue and exercise 
greater influence than any other form of organization. 
We shall not speak of benevolent associations that are 
branches of the well-known fraternal organizations like 
the Masons, Odd Fellows, Moose, etc., because of the 
identical similarity in organization, structure and func- 
tion that exists among such branches of all stocks, ex- 
cepting to mention a few of the very principal lodges by 
name such as the Alba, Roma, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Jeru- 
salem, Italia, Cavour, etc. We pass on therefore to a 
type of organization developed by the American of Italian 
blood largely of the "trade" or business type previously 
described. 

The Bagolino Benefit Association is a club named after 
an old poet and musician who came from the same part 
of Italy as the members of this group, i.e., from Sicily. 
The club is located in the large Sicilian colony on 
Twenty-Sixth Street and was organized six years ago. 
According to the president of this club the "purpose of 
the organization is to keep together those individuals 
who have come from the same home town in Sicily ; to 
provide a suitable meeting place in order to avoid having 
members stand on street corners and about saloons ; to 
develop socially and to be prepared to mutually assist 
one another in every way." 

TYPE OF MEMBERS— There are forty-four mem- 
bers in this group, which is representative of many such 
others thruout the same district and elsewhere. About 
twenty members are married. Dues are seventy-five 
cents a month and meetings are held once a month. The 
chief social feature common to this club as with most of 
the others are billiards, checkers, piano playing and other 
musical instruments, dancing and card playing. This 
last is a very popular pastime. Some gymnasium appa- 
ratus is on hand but very little used. The basketball 
court is also very popular. A great deal is made of the 
periodic feasts or dinners where all the members gather 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 155 

and have an amazing variety of Italian dishes served 
them. 

Of the forty-four members of this group, a distribu- 
tion according to education showed the following: 

2 Graduates of High School in Italy. 
10 Graduates of Elementary Schools in United States. 
30 Graduates of Elementary Schools in Italy. 

2 No schooling. 

A distribution by ages is : 

Age Period Number Individuals 

18-21 3 

22-25 5 

26-29 12 

30-35 10 

36-40 6 

41-45 8 

By vocations these same members are divided as 
follows : 

Vocation Number 

Tailors 6 

Machine Operators 13 

Clerks 6 

Machinists 8 

Linotypists 4 

Printers 5 

Stenographers 2 

The Italian American Citizens Benevolent Association 
is an organization that is essentially similar in composi- 
tion and purposes to the Bagolino Benevolent Associa- 
tion. The club is located in the heart of the dense Italian 
Colony in East New York. It was organized in 1911 by 
P. B. Buonora and according to the statement of its 
president was designed to : 

(a) Promote a desire among Italians to become American 
citizens. 

(b) Instruct the members in good and efficient government 
regardless of party politics. 

(c) To especially urge men and women of Italian descent to 
take interest in public affairs. 

(d) Provide for the economic and social welfare of the mem* 
bers and their families by means of sick and death benefits. 

TYPE OF ACTIVITY— This association is one of the 
largest and most influential of its kind in Brooklyn. 
Two meetings are held monthly, excluding special 
gatherings for lectures, political rallies and conferences. 



156 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

The membership is almost 400 and the ages average from 
21 to 45. Special features that this organization has sup- 
ported are English and citizenship classes. Fully one- 
half of the membership is made up of adult Italians and 
so parallels a condition found in the Bagolino Club 
where more than half of the group were over thirty- 
years of age. This fact shows no doubt why the "ben- 
efit" idea is included in the organization. Fully as much 
Italian as English is spoken in the rooms and at the 
gatherings. 

A goodly majority of the members of this group are 
individuals who have Italian interests very deeply rooted, 
as their ages and their place of education might well 
indicate. The degree of parental influence with this type 
of American of Italian extraction therefore is most 
marked. This is reflected in the fact that only ten mem- 
bers of the Bagolino or one-fourth of the entire mem- 
bership are citizens. The feeling of "camaraderie" in 
this and other clubs is so strong that whereas no definite 
stipulation is made with respect to "benefits" each and 
every one knows that if he should be incapacitated, he 
need not fear any want. Always one of the largest 
expenditures of these clubs goes for flags, in this case 
amounting to $600. This is considered a very small sum. 
Usually the amount of money spent on flags and such 
decorations runs into thousands of dollars. Pianos and 
musical instruments reflect the artistic sense of the 
Italian and also come in for an abnormal share of the 
club's fund. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF BENEFIT CLUB TO 
COMMUNITY — In so far as these clubs draw upon 
Americans of Italian extractions for support they are an 
anti-Americanization agency. Allegiance is divided be- 
tween the shop and this organization which in every 
sense of the word is bent on prolonging the influence of 
traditional ideas, family hopes, Italian ambitions, Italian 
ways of living and Italian customs. This is rendered 
possible thru the reading of the Italian newspapers lying 
about in these club-rooms, the fraternal badges or other 
club insignia, Italian bands, the periodic feasts, Italian 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 157 

games and finally the inevitable penalty of social os- 
tracism should any one not marry an Italian girl. 

Economically these clubs make possible a greater 
saving of money for they tend to keep their members 
true to a standard of living different from that known 
to the American ; educationally they act as great deter- 
rents to the wholesome Americanization of the children 
of Italian immigrants ; socially they keep alive Italian 
customs, traditions, ways of thinking and of doing things, 
and are the most effective nourishers of the Italian 
immigrant colonies in New York City; politically such a 
club draws heavily from the potential citizenry due 
America thru her fearlessness and trustfulness in taking 
to her bosom the heterogeneous masses of Europe ; 
morally they create a social discord between two civiliza- 
tions that makes for a great deal of friction. This fric- 
tion results from the maladjustment inevitable when 
two generations such as the immigrant and his offspring 
are forced to live together. A clash in ideals inevitably 
ensues. 

THE Y. M. C. A. ASSOCIATION 

PARTICULAR GROUPS— The Y. M. C. A. does not 
conduct a branch association exclusively for Americans 
of Italian extraction, but by virtue of the location of a 
building in a district that is predominately Italian, the 
complexion of the membership corresponds accordingly. 
Normally the settlement with its boy's clubs, dramatic 
societies and literary circles is supposed to be a feeder 
to the Y. M. C. A. branch that is not catering exclusively 
to transients. As the case proved, at least with Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction, this condition does not obtain, 
and accounts in large measure for the failure of the Y. M. 
C. A. branch association in East Harlem that was started 
as a branch to be devoted exclusively to Americans of 
Italian origin. 

There are but two instances in the history of the 
Y. M. C. A. movement in the Greater City where this 
consideration of race existed sufficiently to be looked 
upon as a factor to be considered in aiming for success. 
These two instances are the Young Men's Institute 



158 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Branch of the Y. M. C. A. and the East Harlem Italian 
Y. M. C. A. located on East 116th Street. The former 
has an existence of some sixty years ; the latter existed 
but three years and is now no more. The East Har- 
lem Italian Y. M. C. A. was located on East 116th 
Street below Second and Third Avenues in a three- 
story brown building just on the edge of a Little 
Italy section of Harlem. It might be said here that a 
serious mistake was made at the start in not choosing 
a site in the very heart of the colony. This branch was 
opened in 1911 and closed its doors in 1914. In no way 
was the purpose of this branch or that of the Y. M. I. 
different from that obtaining with the branch associa- 
tions located in other parts of the city. A very capable 
secretary, Mr. Lawson H. Brown, had charge of the 
work for the three years that it ran. This branch, tho 
supposed to tap the great numbers of Americans of 
Italian extraction in the area of the "Little Italy" sec- 
tion of Harlem, never had more than one hundred 
and fifty members and thruout its existence showed 
a very remarkably high degree of membership 
turnover by having approximately three hundred and 
fifty different members in three years ; that is each year 
showed an entirely different set of fellows. 

TYPE OF MEMBERS— Perhaps one of the reasons 
for the failure of this branch was the remarkably wide 
discrepancy in types of members. The average age of 
the membership was twenty-five, membership was com- 
posed on the one hand of a clique of Columbia College 
men who had won Phi Beta Kappa honors, and who are 
now instructing in universities and secondary schools ; 
and on the other hand of the lowest type to be found in 
the Italian colnoy. "Social mixing" here was never with- 
out friction. 

The pleasures indulged in were largely physical, in- 
cluding hand-ball, gymnastic work, basketball, indoor 
baseball, etc. Other activities were English classes, 
reading rooms, religious meetings and entertainments. 
There was nothing to distinguish these activities in any 
way from those ordinarily carried on to-day among other 
association branches, Mr. Brown, the secretary, thought 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 159 

that an unvisual appreciation of musical and literary art 
obtained. The reason for discontinuing the work fol- 
lowed from the fact that the Board of Directors would 
not lease the building anew unless the Italian consti- 
tuency would do a larger share toward covering the 
current expenses each year. 

The Young Men's Institute is one of the oldest Y. M. 
C. A. branches in the city. Tho at its inception there 
were no members of Italian parentage within the mem- 
bership, to-day one is on its Board of Directors.* When 
the Young Men's Institute opened its doors, almost sixty 
years ago, its membership was almost entirely made up 
of members of Americans of Irish and German blood; 
to-day fully fifty per cent are of Italian extraction. Two 
years ago thru the efforts of Mr. E. C. Baldwin, for 
twenty-five years its secretary, $60,000 was raised for re- 
modeling the old structure, and it represents to-day as 
well equipped a Y. M. C. A. branch as any to be found 
in the city. In this building is the only indoor swimming 
pool located downtown below 23rd Street. While the 
dues in the East Harlem Italian Y. M. C. A. were $3.00 
per annum, membership in the Young Men's Institvite is 
$15.00. 

Naturally members joining this branch are residents 
of the immediate vicinity. It is to be deprecated that 
but 225 individuals out of the thousands of young men 
of Italian parentage living in the great Mulberry Bend 
Italian colony take advantage of this building and its 
equipment. The average age of the Italian portion of 
the membership is between twenty-five and twenty-six. 
A distribution of workers shows seventy-four different 
fields of activity, the six most frequently found being 
clerks, operators, salesmen, plumbers, tailors and elec- 
tricians. Fully 50 per cent profess Protestantism as their 
religious faith. In passing it may be said that the 
Protestant character of the Y. M. C. A. has much to dc 
with keeping down the membership. 

The pleasures of the group are largely physical and 
social. The excellent gymnasium, showers, handball 
courts, basketball courts and indoor baseball courts, 

* Mr. Danzilio. 



160 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

lockers, reading- rooms, libraries and evening classes, 
afford a wealth of opportunity for right and proper devel- 
opment if they were but used. Religious meetings are 
held regularly, and according to the reports of the sec- 
retary are satisfactory with respect to attendance. One 
of the most important activities which this branch con- 
ducted before the war was its training school for civil 
service. Annually a g'oodly number of policemen, fire- 
men, postal and customs and railway mail clerks are 
sent out from this school having successfully passed their 
examinations and are placed in government positions. 

The study and stressing of citizenship may be said to 
be the most marked activity of the Young Men's In- 
stitute. This it has done and is doing effectively and 
well. This branch is also able to maintain a flourishing 
literary society where weekly debates and discussions on 
various topics are entered into with avidity. Dr. L. C. 
Schroeder had much to do towards making this latter 
activity a success. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY — 
There is no relation at all between this Institute — the 
best high grade Americanizing agency of its kind in the 
neighborhood — and the Italian colony on the Lower 
East Side. Whether this is due to the apathy of the 
people themselves or of the failure of the institution "to 
get across," it is impossible to say. It may be that both 
share in the blame. Some of the fellows who are "on the 
outside" say it is too "high brow"; others that it is 
Protestant and forbidden ; others, that it costs too 
much money. In all probability all three factors are 
operative. It is certain that the extensive activities 
carried on when the membership was largely of Irisl: 
and German origin do not obtain among- the present 
membership with its Italian coloring. 

THE CIVIC ASSOCIATION 

If it were possible to describe here the organization 
and functions of a large and multifariously active civic 
association for Americans of Italian extraction, it would 
be both good and bad. It would be good because a 
flourishing civic organization on the one hand, would 



TO AMERICA NDEMOCRACY 161 

show that our Italian stock is greatly interested in gov- 
ernment ; on the other hand, it would be bad, because of 
the carrying over of the "race" question in matters of 
civics and politics. 

To a superficial observer, therefore, the absence of 
some such flourishing civic organization, directly inter- 
ested in making better citizens, is often construed to 
mean that Italians do not become citizens. 

Few organizations of any consequence with a distinctly 
civic or political purpose exist among the younger gen- 
eration of these Americans in New York City. Some 
years ago the older generation organized the Italian- 
American Democratic Union. This Union, which 
still exists, aimed to unite Italian-speaking Ameri- 
cans of the first generation about the standards of one 
of the two leading political parties of this state. 

PARTICULAR GROUPS— The Fugazzi Association is 
a large and powerful civic org-anization named after its 
founder, Humboldt Fugazzi, who was intensely inter- 
ested in having his people adopt America as their per- 
manent home. This Association has its clubrooms in the 
Italian colony on the lower West Side on Thompson 
Street near Bleecker. Humboldt Fugazzi is a local 
politician who has given years to the work of develop- 
ing a civic consciousness among Italians on the West 
Side. From a few dozen, this club has steadily increased 
until it now counts almost one thousand names on its 
rolls making it unquestionably the most powerful group 
of its kind among the younger generation on the West 
Side. According to the founder of this club the purpose 
of the organization is to "work for the betterment of 
the Italian elements on the West Side socially and polit- 
^::ally." Dues are fifty cents a month, and meetings are 
held fortnightly. 

TYPE OF ACTIVITY— Activities of the members are 
of a social, physical, and mental nature. The club rooms 
are splendidly furnished with an equipment which costs 
thousands of dollars. Pool and card games are the most 
popular diversions of the members. Music is next in 
popularity. Members of this organization take a very 



162 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

active part in athletics, of which running and cycling 
probably feature most prominently. 

A citizenship school is conducted by this club and has 
done its work so effectually that of a membership of 
over 900 scarcely 35 are aliens. At each election in- 
creased activity in politics results because of the keen 
interest that these individuals take in government. 

Where an organization of this kind is too much under 
the thumb of one man or clique not unfrequently it is 
used to further personal ends. A fair judgment of the 
situation with reference to the Fugazzi Association from 
this standpoint must relieve this organization from this 
suspicion. The best refutation of this charge is that 
the club has vacillated in its support of parties, voting 
as individuals instead of a group. 

Other clubs of a like kind are the Italian American 
Democratic Union, and the Italian-American Citizens 
Association. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF CIVIC CLUB TO 
COMMUNITY — The influence of a civic organization of 
a type such as the'above has a salutary effect upon the 
community. The reasons for this are various. The one 
who frequents the Civic Club is apt to know intimately 
both individuals and sources that are more truly Ameri- 
can than any other person or things he might meet in 
his work-a-day world. To begin with, the entire em- 
phasis of club-life is placed upon American citizenship. 

Politically these clubs, while plausibly charged with 
a pseudo-Americanism because of the appeal they make 
to racial backgrounds, are in reality indispensible chan- 
nels necessary for the infiltration of an unbroken stream 
of American influences into the lives of those individuals 
that frequent them. This is so because of the relations 
that exist between such civic clubs and the political 
party. This connection allows for frequent visits to 
these clubs by the leading candidates for political office, 
the stressing of parliamentary rules and procedure, the 
emphasizing of group loyalty and even individual fealty 
— all of which show a new set of values that heretofore 
were unknown. 

Educationally the practice in reading the numerous 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 163 

pamphlets, articles, posters and cards that are being 
constantly put out by the energetic leaders of the Civic 
Club, calls forth reactions that prove stimulating. Social 
contacts become more numerous, intercommunication 
more frecjuent and the whole sphere of the individual's 
mental horizon is widened to include a world larger than 
he knew before he joined such a club. 

The civic club usually takes it upon itself to look after 
the hygiene, health, recreation and functions of a 
municipal nature as they affect the district in which the 
workers live. In this way they are brought face to face 
with American government in a very practical way. 
This club is a social and civic laboratory that this type 
of American needs in order to become a more useful 
citizen. 

SOCIAL WELFARE CLUB 

INTRODUCTION— It is within this type of organiza- 
tion that we find the best instances of cooperative and 
concerted group action. Organization here is both voli- 
tional and purposive. A definite program is held forth 
and serves to attract individuals of a comparatively 
homogeneous nature. The basis for membership within 
these groups is Italian ancestry. Sometimes though 
Americans of other descents are admitted because they 
are interested in Italian culture and Italian people. The 
purpose of such clubs is to uplift the Italian masses of 
the slums. In order to be helpful one must have some 
training and experience in things cultviral and a certain 
amount of free time. It is not surprising therefore that 
we find the bulk of such members to be either profes- 
sionally employed Italians or college students. 

THE ITALIAN LEAGUE FOR SOCIAL SERVICE 

This league was organized in the Richmond Hill set- 
tlement five years ago to help the young generation of 
Americans of Italian extraction acquire a thoro knowl- 
edge of the problem of Americanizing the Italian immi- 
grant, and to furnish them with the training necessary 
to become the leaders among their own people. 



164 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

This organization was started by Prof. Racca and thi 
workers of the Richmond Hill settlement. This house 
had for years been training- a group of Americans of 
Italian extraction to go forth among their own peoples 
and disseminate a knowledge of the good which they had 
themselves secured through the more enlightened 
methods of living following directly from their more 
rapid Americanization. 

The basis for this organization was the realization 
^that the most effective way of getting at the problem 
of welfare and uplift of the American immigrant was to 
instruct the young generation and train them as leaders, 
and send them out to preach the gospel of Americaniza- 
tion as reflected in a higher standard of living, American 
citizenship, and a speaking and reading knowledge of the 
English language. 

This organization has done some very effective work, 
sending out twenty-five teachers to various institutions 
in the neighborhood where by means of their leadership 
classes in English and citizenship were started and are 
maintained even to-day. 

THE ITALIAN EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE— The 
Italian Educational League is one of the oldest and most 
influential social welfare organizations in the City of 
New York. It is called the Italian Educational League 
because the major part of its work is an attempt to 
prolong the period of time that Americans of Italian 
extraction attend the public schools of this city. Its 
organization was due largely to the efforts of Dr. Antonio 
Pisani, former member of the Board of Education who 
served as its president for nine years ; and also Joseph 
Francolini, President of the Italian Savings Bank. During 
the ten years of its existence the League has accom- 
plished some very useful work. It has solicited and 
collected funds by which it has been possible to award 
at least thirty-five scholarships. These scholarships are 
given in the form of weekly stipends to parents, thereby 
relieving them of the necessity for relying upon the 
child's financial support. This permits the child to 
remain in school. Its methods of work, according to 
Dr. Pisani, its president, are as follows : 

1. The Italian League studies the natural, healthy 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 165 

interests of the Italian pupils, and provides for their 
encouragement and development. 

2. Brings to attention of the Italian parents, thru 
parents' meetings, personal conferences and pamphlets, 
the need of keeping their children at school as long as 
possible. 

3. Aids worthy pupils who are in need so that pro- 
gress in their school work may go on without inter- 
ruption. 

4. Aids graduates and those that are forced to leave 
school to find positions where they have an opportunity 
to make progress. 

5. Brings to the attention of the proper authorities 
the needs of the Italian pupils. 

6. Prepares pamphlets for pupils who contemplate 
choosing a career. 

7. Distributes to parents leaflets, papers and notices 
relative to the business opportunities for profitable em- 
ployment open to their children. 

8. Collects information regarding opportunities for 
profitable employment for graduates. 

9. Prepares for the use of employers lists of suitable 
persons by the aid of which they may select help. 

10. Works in co-operation with Americans for the 
welfare of the Italian pupils. 

11. Looks into complaints of Italian parents for lack 
of school accommodations or tuition for their children. 

12. Has qualified persons addressing groups of chil- 
dren regarding the opportunities in different trades and 
professions. 

13. Promotes the study of the Italian language in the 
public school. 

14. Represents the Italian pupils in educational meet- 

15. Aids parents in securing such modifications in the 
school curriculum as will suit local conditions and tend 
to bring out the best in the child. 

16. Works to obtain a better observance of the provi- 
sions of the compulsory educational law by the parents, 
relations or employers of Italian children. 

Thruout its existence the League has conducted over 
100 meetings where the advantages of a public school 



166 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

education, of knowing the English language and of be- 
coming American citizens from an economic, social and 
educational standpoint were definitely and intelligently 
presented to their people by the educational leaders of 
Italian blood in New York City. For over two years the 
league has employed a visiting teacher who went into 
the homes of the Italian parents in which there were 
mental defectives or otherwise deficient children, and in- 
structed the parents as to the proper procedure to follow 
in order to secure relief. Over two hundred and fifty 
such visits were recorded that later were made the sub- 
ject of the attention of proper public officials. By this 
means many unfortunates received the benefits of pre- 
ventive measures from clinics, hospitals, asylums and 
schools. This person worked under the direction of the 
inspector of undergraded classes and looked after Italian 
cases only. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— This 
League is interested not only in educational matters, 
but in all questions of a public nature as relative to and 
affecting Italian-speaking people of this city. Regular 
educational meetings are held under its auspices thruout 
the five boroughs. The connection with all Italian-speak- 
ing communities so far as this organization is concerned 
is helpful and intimate. 

THE ITALIAN WELFARE LEAGUE— The Italian 
Welfare League was organized in September 1913 by 
such interested men as Chevalier John Foster Carr, 
Countess Frabasilis, Judge Freschi, Dr. Pisani, Rev. Tor- 
natore, etc. The younger generation took hold of this 
movement very readily and actively, so that to-day the 
League numbers over 200 members. 

According to the inscription underneath the figure of 
Dante on the letterhead of this organization, the purpose 
of this club is to "organize young men and women of 
Italian parentage and help them to preserve among 
themselves and to disseminate among others the best 
that the genius of Italy has contributed to civilization." 

The very active and enterprising president of this 
organization, Peter F. Sabbatino, states that : "The 
chief activities are centered at Christodora House, 147 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 167 

Avenue B. The main work of the organization consists 
in having men and women prominent in the social and 
pubhc Hfe of the city come down to our meetings and 
discuss the problems of the city as they affect Ameri- 
cans of Italian descent; also to organize young men and 
women of Italian parentage into mutually helpful con- 
tacts socially, educationally and politically." 

The league has done very effective work as is testified 
by clubs organized under its patronage at the Christo- 
dora House, the Labor Temple, the Second Avenue Re- 
creational rooms and the Chrystie Street Settlement. The 
League has also pushed all efforts to bring about a fuller 
co-operation among clubs scattered thruout the city in- 
terested in bettering the social conditions of people of 
Italian lineage. 

The members of this group vary in age from twenty- 
one to forty, and are scattered thru a variety of fields of 
employment from the modest post-office clerk to those 
practising in the different professions, such as law and 
medicine. Classes are held in civic and educational work ; 
language classes are held as the occasion warrants. Dues 
average $3.00 per annum, and meetings are held twice a 
month. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— The 
Italian Welfare League affords one of the very best 
instances of the push-upward that an enlightened, so- 
cially spirited and public-minded group of individuals 
can contribute towards helping the peoples of the race 
to which they belong and those who perhaps have not 
had the similar advantages which these leaders enjoy. 
In a word, their mission to such people, is to intelligently 
interpret Americanism. There is no doubt that upon 
this younger generation of Americans is entrusted the 
task of intelligent interpretation of the Italian stock 
in our midst. 

THE YOUNG MEN'S ITALIAN EDUCATIONAL 
LEAGUE — The Young Men's Italian Educational League 
is composed of the younger generation of educated 
Americans of Italian extraction residing thruout the 
different boroughs. Its meetings were held at the time 
of its inception at Earl Hall, Columbia University ; from 



168 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

this they moved to Government House, New York Uni- 
versity, and now regularly meet at the Italian School on 
Hester and Elizabeth Streets. This league does a work 
that resembles closely that done by the Italian Welfare 
League and the Italian Educational League. It is under 
the able leadership of F. R. Serri, formerly Associate 
Editor of Commerce and Finance and recently a candi- 
date for the office of Attorney-General on the New York 
State Farmer-Labor Party ticket. 

The League has at present forty-five members, three- 
fourths of whom are college graduates representing Co- 
lumbia, New York University, Syracuse, Yale, Colgate, 
City College of New York, and Fordham. A distribution 
of the membership according to vocation is : 

P. S. Teachers 4 

H. S. Teachers 8 

Graduate (Univ.) Students 3 

College 10 

Lawyers 5 

Doctors 4 

Micellaneous 11 

Total 45 

PURPOSE — The purpose of this club according to a 
set of printed aims that it distributes is: 

"To unite all intelligent young Italians in the promo- 
tion of a greater educational interest and a finer social 
and civic loyalty among the Italians of America." 
METHOD— 

1. To conduct a training course for leaders of citizen- 
ship classes for Italian students every Monday night at 
8:45 P.M. 

2. To publish a citizenship book that will be adequate, 
scientific in spirit and thoroly up-to-date. 

3. To write articles and book reviews, and to trans- 
late articles and books of distinct value in producing a 
more sympathetic understanding between Italians and 
Americans. 

4. To organize and furnish leaders for citizenship 
and English classes for Italian men and women thruout 
the city. 

5. To organize a monthly conference of all Italian 
educational, civic and social clubs or leagues, in order to 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 169 

obtain more effective co-operation and unity of action. 

6. To organize or co-operate with Italian social or 
civic clubs already organized in all the high schools and 
colleges in New York. 

7. To conduct literary meetings in order to develop 
greater facility in speaking, appreciation of things intel- 
lectual and a keener understanding of the important 
social and civic issues of the day. 

The League has organized citizenship classes in half 
a dozen schools and settlements where Italians are lo- 
cated in noticeable numbers. It has donated for this use 
the services of four or five instructors in civics and cit- 
izenship. This League particularly has been very active 
in fostering a spirit of harmony and co-operation be- 
tween the various welfare organizations and Italian 
clubs located in different sections of the city. It is 
responsible also for the opening of many additional 
English classes for foreigners and has also conducted 
under its auspices numerous debates, socials, family 
gatherings, educational conferences and public meetings. 

Its program calls for periodical public meetings on 
current c|uestions in politics, government and other 
social questions. It has created a keener appreciation 
for books and reading by maintaining an open shelf 
library easily accessible to all members. As an organi- 
zation it has contributed frequently and generously to 
the financial support of many and various welfare move- 
ments aiming at the betterment of Italians in New 
York. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— As 
was said of the club described before the nature of the 
adjustment that this organization makes to the Italian 
communities at large is an intelligent and socially helpful 
one. Not only are there being developed by the means 
of the valuable lessons that are being taught, qualities 
that augur well for America, but individually the mem- 
bers are preparing themselves for a life of wider use- 
fulness and looking forward to a time when the radius 
of their services as interpreters of the American spirit 
will not be circumscribed by the narrow confines of a 
mere local community. 



170 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

THE COLLEGE CIRCOLO 

Almost every college where Italians attend in sufficient 
numbers has its Italian Circolo.* When organized 
within the walls of an educational institution the osten- 
sible purpose of such a club is to stimulate the use of and 
interest in Italian language, Italian culture, Italian art, 
etc. Usually tho this latter aim degenerates so that the 
chief aim becomes "social." Almost every high school 
has a Circolo too, usually very close under the chaperon- 
ing wing of one of the instructors in the school, and not 
unlikely a teacher of Italian extraction. 

PARTICULAR GROUPS— Because probably more 
Americans of Italian extraction living in the Greater City 
have secured their collegiate training at Columbia the 
Circolo attached to this institution is the one chosen for 
a detailed analysis here. The Columbia University 
Italian Circolo is perhaps the most highly developed Ita- 
lian Circolo connected with any University in the East 
or thruout the United States for that matter. Its recent 
growth has been phenomenal in expanding membership 
from a bare half dozen to almost sixty members within a 
period of a few years. 

Eight years ago when the writer entered Columbia 
College as a freshman there was no Circolo in existence. 
A few students on the basis of their common Italian 
ancestry gathered once a month or so and discussed their 
own individual matters rather than questions of Italian 
art, langauge or culture. Usually this "talk-fest" con- 
cluded a few hours later at some Italian restaurant 
where dinner was had. A few hours of heated and 
random discussion was the extent of organized activity 
among Americans of Italian extraction at Columbia Col- 
lege. The writer recalls being introduced to but four or 
five such individuals which was the maximum of those 
who evidenced any interest whatever in a Circolo. Pos- 
sibly a few others were scattered thruout various other 
schools of the university, but none showed sufficient 
interest to attend even these informal gatherings. 

* Italian word for club. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 171 

The year 1913 saw the organization of a real Italian 
Circolo and it was helped a great deal by the sympathetic 
co-operation of former Dean F. P. Keppel. Quite a few 
freshmen having entered, the year was started with a 
regular constitution and meetings were held at regular 
stated intervals. The first president of the Circolo was 
Garibaldi La Guardia, formerly instructor at the Naval 
Academy at Annapolis. The membership numbered 
about twenty-five at that time, but a bare dozen or so 
attended these first meetings and showed what could 
be called "sustained interest." The club since 1913 has 
grown considerably in size and strength until to-day 
there are fully 75 members on the rolls. Not a litttle of 
the recent growth of the Columbia Circolo is due to the 
efforts and interest of Professor John L. Gerig of the 
Romance language department. 

TYPE OF MEMBERS— The average age of these col- 
legiate Americans of Italian extraction is twenty-one. 
This type enters college as a rule a year or so later than 
the average American of other descents. This is so 
because every now and then there enters an individual 
who has had a break in his education, most likely one 
due to financial reasons. 

If Americans of Italian extraction go to Columbia the 
chances are strong that they have had also their second- 
ary schooling in the greater city's high schools, and 
each year sees a wide distribution of members coming 
from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island and many from 
downtown Italian colonies located on the West and East 
Sides. The reason that a goodly representation is always 
had from residents of outlying suburbs is that usually 
they represent families who are in better financial cir- 
cumstances than the average and able therefore to effect 
a change of residence. Fully seventy-five per cent are 
residents of New York City. Scatterings are always to 
be expected from such suburbs as Bayonne, Long Island 
City, Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle and the nearby towns 
of New Jersey. Elizabeth, New Jersey, has sent several 
representatives as well as Danbury, Connecticut, and 
Mamaroneck, New York. 

The pleasures of this type are of the usual college 



172 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

type varying in no noticeable degree. The usual number 
of dances, socials, entertainments, etc., are given and 
supported. To make any distinction in this sort of 
thing is almost impossible, as none is discernible. It 
has been found that about thirty per cent of these Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction work after school hours to 
make possible their continuing in school. Not a few 
help their fathers in their business or teach at night 
subjects like Spanish or Italian. Dean Keppel likes to 
quote the case of one of these individuals who spent his 
time Saturdays and Sundays working in his brother's 
barber shop, as representative of the way this type has 
to struggle to get ahead. He is now a professor in one 
of our Southern colleees. 

TYPE OF ACTIVITY— The activity of these individ- 
uals in so far as it is concerned with their Circolo life 
is largely recreational in character. As was said before 
the main purpose of the club which was to stimulate the 
use and interest in the Italian language has lapsed; 
to-day the main effort is to afford social contacts. 

The club does nothing in athletics as an organization 
tho several have starred for Columbia as individuals. 
Some of the prizes which went to members of the Cir- 
colo were the Junior Wrestling Championship, Varsity 
places in the football, basketball, baseball and soccer 
football teams. Modarelli, Ruffolo and De Fronzo are to 
be noted in this connection. 

In scholarship the club has established a unique record, 
so much so that Dean Keppel, in a recent article has 
said of them : 

"Some of these foreign strains are very interesting. I 
think the keenest among them at present is the Italian. 
In earnestness and accomplishment the Italian boys are 
surpassing even the Russian-Jewish boys and that not 
only means that they are of high intelligence but that 
they are hard workers. They get along very well with 
their fellows of all races too. We never have a Phi Beta 
Kappa election which does not result in the choice of 
from three to five Italians." * 

* Keppel, F. P., "The College Student of Today." N. Y. Times, 
December 19, 1918. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 173 

A summary of the scholastic achievements of these 
members is contained in the following statistics gathered 
by the ex-president of the Circolo :* 

<u 
' bo 

o D J3 _ O O 

60^ ~ ^ .ti Z ^^ -^ 

C O ° > C 

"- j-Q >* -o •- -o "" 

(u "jS S srt (u5 ^rt iho ^"! ~. rt^ •£ c 

>H ou^ :z;»i5 Qjs <;iij (^u <i^ wcL, ^w oK 

1916 77 7 13 3 6 1 4 5 

1915 185 3 13 — 10 1 — 11 

1914 170 4 7 — 9 1 15 2 2 

1913 188 1 12 — 7 1 _ _ 1 

1912 152 2 — — 8 1 _ _ 1 

1911 141 6 1 1 9 — — — — 

This performance at Columbia is not the exception. 
There have come to the writer's attention many other 
similar instances at other universities. Concretely, these 
other institutions are Wesleyan, Yale, Barnard, Syra- 
cuse, New York University (Heights) and City College. 

A word may be said here for the College of the City 
of New York Circolo. This Circolo was organized in 
1912, and its membership up to the outbreak of the war 
totalled fifty members. Dues are seventy-five cents for 
one academic term, and meetings are held weekly. This 
organization carries on a program that is essentially 
similar to that described for the Columbia organization. 
Some of its regular feaures are : 

(a) An annual smoker. 

(b) An annual play (in Italian) and dance usually in 
conjunction with the Circolo Italiano made up of the 
American girls of Italian extraction at Hunter College. 
For the past three years the receipts of these perfor- 
mances have been turned over to the Italian Red Cross 
and have netted hundreds of dollars. 

(c) A yearly banquet in honor of the graduates of 
Italian blood. 

(d) An intercollegiate basketball tournament of games 

♦Nicholas Bucci, Italian Scholarship at Columbia — The 
Italian Intercollegiate, Vol. 1, No. 1. 



174 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

played between the Italian Circolo representing the dif- 
ferent colleges in this section of the country. 

This club has had the consistent attention and interest 
of Prof. Arbib-Costa. Besides this from 1910 on there 
have been quite a few unusually able members whose in- 
fluence and labors made the City College Circolo a suc- 
cess from the start. The Italian name was kept at a 
high level by Viscardi, Lodato and D'Andria who won 
prizes in various fields. In public speaking Cristiano 
distinguished himself above all others. Sabbatino and 
Armore and Santangelo won places on the debating 
teams. A few Phi Beta Kappa men within the recent 
past are De Luca, Lodato, laccuzzi, D'Andria and Spag- 
nuoli. Of recent years the City College has steadily 
forged ahead. It has grown in numbers and increased 
its activities so that its Circolo represents an important 
part of the Italian college life of this city. Of the 
younger men Russo and Sava are particularly active. 

The Hunter College Circolo is also in a very flourishing 
condition, and numbers over forty members. These 
American-trained Italian-speaking students are all vitally 
interested in things American. They hold regular meet- 
ings and usually have some prominent person in the 
Italian colony address them. They conduct dances and 
give plays and hold many informal socials. The whole 
social and intellectual life is distinguished by nothing 
that is different from the general routine of activity as is 
experienced in the life of girls of other descents. Great 
praise is due to Prof. Qara Byrnes for her unflagging 
interest and devotion in suggesting ideas and maintain- 
ing interest among members. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF CIRCOLO LIFE TO 
THE ITALIAN COMMUNITY— Because the members 
of the College Circolo come from communities that are 
scattered there is no definite community that can claim 
any direct contact with this type unless it be the college 
community. Of the relation that this American of 
Italian extraction bears to the college community Dean 
Keppel said to the writer the following: 

"Italian students with their optimism and joy of living 
are almost uniformly desirable associates and are easily 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 175 

and healthfully assimilated into the student body. There 
are few if any cases of social indigestion among them." 

All this has been possible only because this type of 
American is an individual who has been given a chance 
in life such as the parent never had. The encouraging 
thing is that their numbers are steadily increasing. 

It is not to be questioned that from the ranks of 
the members of the Columbia, City College and other 
Circoli located in universities that the best leadership of 
the Italian population will come. 

PROFESSIONAL CLUBS 

The number of professionally employed Americans of 
Italian extraction has steadfastly increased in New Ycu-k 
City within the last twenty years. Taking the three 
most popular professions, teaching, law and medicine, as 
a basis, we note that an organization exists for each of 
the three. It was not so very long ago when the number 
of lawyers of Italian extraction practising in New York 
City could be counted on the fingers of one hand; to-day 
the number is over five hundred. The same holds true 
for the medical and teaching professions. 

There are two important reasons for this change: (1) 
The raised economic status of the younger as compared 
with the older generation ; (2) the universal desire for 
Italian parents to have a son who is a professional 
man. 

PARTICULAR GROUPS— The Societa Medica Ita- 
liana is the Italian Medical Society in the city and was 
organized in 1898 by Dr. Casella. At the time of its 
inception the membership totalled thirty-five ; to-day this 
has increased to one hundred and fifty. Dues are fixed 
at four dollars annually and meetings are held once 
every month. The purpose of these meetings is to pro- 
vide social and professional contacts for the members. 
This is accomplished in various ways. Every meeting 
is made the occasion of a lecture on some phase of 
medicine by one of the members or possibly an invited 
speaker. The lectures are always followed by discussion 
and criticism. 

Another important feature of the work of this organ- 
ization is the patriotic work that it does for the families 



176 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

of recalled Italian soldiers. Medical advice and aid is 
furnished gratis to such families and besides this, funds 
are collected from time to time which are distributed 
in such a way as the members may decide. These con- 
tributions usually follow two forms : 

(1) The support of children made orphans owing to 
the war ; 

(2) The furnishing of field operating rooms to the 
Italian Red Cross. Within one year six such hospitals 
have been contributed. 

Almost all of the doctors of this society secured their 
professional training in Italy, with the exception of some 
twenty who are graduates of American universities. 
Almost all specialties in medicine are represented. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF MEDICAL SO- 
CIETY TO ITALIAN COMMUNITY— It seems that the 
medical men in the Italian colony have taken the lead 
in giving their organization a touch of the "Social Ser- 
vice" color. Perhaps this is because their work brings 
them so frequently into the most intimate contacts with 
real suffering and even misery. The members of the 
"Societa Medica Italiana" do not play a very large and 
important part in the activities conducted by the 
younger generation. In the practice of their profes- 
sions, however, they are constantly being thrown in 
with this rising group and so have come to understand 
thoroughly the specific conditions surrounding them. 
The importance of this contact is not to be under- 
estimated. .The fact remains however that this society 
is composed of individuals of a generation that is 
now fairly well along in years and the writer does not 
know of any one physician representing the younger 
school that is affiliated with it. It is most probable 
that the near future will see the rise of a new Italian 
Medical Society and that its constituency will be largely 
recruited from the younger men who have been born 
in this country or who have come here when very 
3'-oung. Before this is done no real evaluation of the 
contribution that American medical men of Italian ex- 
traction as a group have made, is possible.* 

* Since this writing there has been formed the Italo-Ameri- 
can Medical Society. Its president is Dr. Osnato. Dr. Amaroso 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 177 

THE ITALIAN TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION 

The Italian Teachers' Association was organized in 
1912 and is composed of American men and women who 
are teaching in the public, high schools, and colleges of 
New York City and its vicinity. The total membership 
is 132. The following table shows the sex and grade of 
schools for the members : 

Male Female 

Public School 16 24 

High School 17 8 

College and University 12 1 

Private or other schools 32 12 

Fully eighty per cent of the members of this organiza- 
tion are products of American schools and universities ; 
eighty hold American degrees. The purpose of the asso- 
ciation is to disseminate a wider knowledge and appre- 
ciation of the Italian language and Italian culture among 
not only Americans but also among the Italians them- 
selves. For this reason the constitution states that Ita- 
lian is to be the language in which official business of thf^ 
organization is to be conducted. 

The primary purpose of the Italian Teachers' Associa- 
tion is to agitate to the end that Italian be introduced 
into the high school curriculum. Meetings are held 
monthly. 

Students in the various schools are urged to study the 
language of their fathers. The main reason for this is to 
avoid the very abrupt break between the old and the 
young generations, to which break ignorance of Italian 
contributes no small part. 

At various intervals public gatherings are held and 
the distinguished men of the Italian colony are gathered 
together for the purpose of reminding the new genera- 
tion of the great debt they owe to the land of their 
forefathers. Great emphasis is placed upon the neces- 

is secretary and some of its most active organizers are Drs. 
De Vecchi, Rossano, Orlando, Di Palma and Salvatore. Meet- 
ings are held monthly on w^hich occasion one or more speakers 
present a paper on a topic related to the profession of the 
members. 



178 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

sity of being able not only to read and speak but to 
write the Italian language. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF THIS ORGANIZA- 
TION TO COMMUNITY~The Italian Teachers' Asso- 
ciation is based upon a principle that is very praise- 
worthy — namely of seeking to carry over into the 
/American life of Italian-speaking people those points in 
the life and customs of Italy that deserve preservation, 
perpetuation and imitation. Inasmuch as the grip of 
things Italian upon the life of these Americans is slender 
at best and in no way represents any conflicts or com- 
petition with influences and opportunities that make for 
Americanism — the contact is on the whole good. In 
some individual cases an extreme Italian nationalist may 
seek to subordinate things American, but this is the 
exception rather than the rule. An excellent opportunity 
is offered on the other hand for these individuals to de- 
rive the advantages of two civilizations or of two peoples 
that are in some things widely different. 

THE ITALIAN LAWYERS' ASSOCIATION— The 
Italian Lawyers' Association was organized in 1905 in 
order that American lawyers of Italian extraction prop- 
erly organized could better look after the political, edu- 
cational, recreational and civic needs of the Italian- 
speaking constituencies they represented. 

In a few years this organization had grown to very 
ambitious proportions. Regular meetings were held at 
which an address was delivered usually by some promi- 
nent attorney. 

Under the auspices of the Italian Lawyers' Association 
various public gatherings were held in different parts 
of the city and at these meetings the Italian-speaking 
populace were told of the ways they could go about 
remedying social and economic and other conditions that 
needed improvement in their communities. In short, 
the work of the Association betook a social service rather 
than any strictly professional coloring. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— 
When the Italian Lawyers' Association was started it 
was intended that it be a general information center to 
Italian-speaking people on all matters involving legal 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 179 

procedure. However, this purpose was strayed from and 
it relapsed into a loose and inactive society. The war 
helped this disintegrating process until to-day the organi- 
zation is more an organization in name than anything 
else. 

CIRCOLO NAZIONALE ITALIANO— The Italian 
National Club was organized eight years ago for the pur- 
pose of providing a place where individuals of Italian 
ancestry could meet and know one another. It was 
started very humbly at 5 W. 16th Street but the mem- 
bership kept growing until larger quarters became neces- 
sary, and so the club moved to 11 E. 44th Street. Several 
years later the wonderful success with which the "Cir- 
colo" was meeting necessitated its removal to the four- 
story building at 119 W. 48th Street. 

The chief organizers of the club were Celestino Piva, 
the wealthy silk manufacturer ; Tocci, the banker ; Solari, 
the steamship agent; Judge Freschi ; Dr. Stella, and Mr. 
Pizzarro, of the Gerry Society. 

Dues are $100 a year and the membership includes the 
better known Italians and Americans of Italian blood 
in the country such as Marconi, Caruso, Gatti-Casazza, 
D'Amato, Morisini, Fabbri, etc. 

As a rule Italian is the chief language spoken, tho but 
25 out of a total membership of 350 are not American 
citizens. 

The chief activities of the Circolo Nazionale are : 

1. To foster a deeper appreciation for things Italian. 

2. To provide social intercourse for its members. 

3. To furnish a place where non-resident members 
can eat and sleep while in New York. 

4. The periodic holding of dances, dinners and other 
receptions to prominent Italians residing in New York 
and well-known Americans who were interested in things 
Italian. 

The membership includes Americans of other descents 
than Italian. This element in actual numbers is twenty 
of the 324 odd members. The total membership dis- 
tribution according to residence is : 



180 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Boroughs Number of Members 

Manhattan 108 

Bronx 62 

Brooklyn 94 

Queens 21 

Out of Town 12 

27 

Total 324 

Distribution according to professions, the member- 
ship was as follows : 

Lawyers 52 

Doctors 61 

Business 123 

Singers 11 

Manufacturers 13 

Bankers 17 

Steamship Agents 16 

Miscellaneous 31 

Total 324 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— The 
"Circolo Nazionale"* is the social organization "par ex- 
cellence" of the Italian-speaking population. Its influence 
is not limited to New York City for its membership roll 
shows that fully one-fourth of the members come from 
out of town. 

Economically this, organization contributes nothing to 
the welfare of the members of the Italian colony except- 
ing as it lends its rooms at times to different organiza- 
tions for "welfare" purposes. It is essentially a "rich 
man's" club as the $100 annual dues show. As indivi- 
duals however, the members of this group are always in- 
tensely interested in all attempts at uplift and relief for 
Italians wherever attempted. 

Educationally the majority represent a training and 
discipline that is Italian rather than American. This is 
shown by the fact that the former language is more com- 
monly used in the club's quarters. 'However, their train- 
ing is broad and shows not only sympathy for but 

*The name of this organization has recently been changed 
to the Italian Metropolitan Club and has moved its headquar- 
ters to the Hotel Netherlands. Its president is Cav. A. Port- 
folio and its secretary Luigi AUesandria. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 181 

understanding as well of all things that are American. 

Socially the sphere in which the whole setting of this 
organization is cast is distinctly removed from that 
which the majority of the Italian people not only in 
New York City but in the United States know and are 
living in. Yet this setting is not American. While an 
Italian who has just arrived would have disclaimed it, 
it nevertheless is foreign. This "foreign" coloring mili- 
tates against a full blown appreciation of Americanism. 

This organization has never tried its hand at political 
questions but exists almost entirely as a high-class 
gentlemen's club where one can go after the day's work 
is done and enjoy a good cigar or have dinner and relaxa- 
tion. 



182 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XIX 
MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS 

INTRODUCTION— It is not difficult to show that 
organized activities conducted by Americans of ItaHan 
extraction run thru the entire gamut of all co-operative 
effort possible. As Roberts says, "the men of the new 
immigration are much given to organizations of various 
kinds."* 

Neither is the descendant of the Italian lacking in 
this same trait so that instead of a fundamental lack of 
organization we see what almost amounts to a super- 
fluity of organization effort. Organizations covering 
the same narrow field are duplicated many times over. 
To the question, does the American of Italian extraction 
co-operate, we answer emphatically, "Yes," and in so 
doing point out in addition to those previously discussed 
a miscellaneous number of different institutions not yet 
noted. 

DRAMATICS 

THE MARIONETTE THEATRE— Italian dramatics 
has had a rather checkered history or career in New 
York City. Attempts at the reproduction of Italian 
operas, plays, etc., have been numerous and frequent. In 
New York City at present there exist two Italian thea- 
tres on the lower East Side supported by their Italian 
adherents. Their plays, however, are given in Italian 
and their whole background presupposes a knowledge 
and appreciation of things fundamentally Italian. For 
the most part this appreciative background is lacking 
in the many thousands of Americans of Italian extrac- 
tion living in New York City. They have neither time 
nor opportunity to develop such an appreciation. In a 
great measure this deficiency follows from their slender 
grip on the Italian language. Consequently, it is certain 
that such dramatics as exist are conducted by Italians — 
for those individuals of Italian blood that are preem- 

* Roberts, Peter, "The New Immigration," p. 187. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 183 

inently Italian. They hold no place and offer little value 
to Americans of Italian extraction. These individuals 
secure their dramatic pleasures by attending the Ameri- 
can theatres. 

There has been, however, one attempt by an American 
of Italian extraction to present one phase of Italian 
drama to Americans. The Marionette theatre was 
started by Remo Bufano some eight years ago in the 
well known Richmond Hill Settlement on Macdougal 
Street. Playlets were given both in English and Italian. 
Little tales or stories of old Italian life were dramatized 
These playlets have a great hold not only on the Italian 
populace, but on all, for it revives one's appreciation of 
the chivalrous times of the past and presents an educa- 
tive influence that is as real as it is novel. In this partic- 
ular instance the director of the Marionette Theatre 
labored under great financial difficulties. He constructed 
his own marionettes and was forced to work under the 
most trying of circumstances. A marionette is a wooden 
figure made to represent some character of history, 
usually a knight, a priest, a dragon, or an ogre, etc. The 
marionette or wooden puppet is handled by means of a 
wire which is attached at the top-most part of the figure 
and is made to go thru the motions descriptive of the 
words which the marionette operator utters. 

The recent spread of moving pictures has effectively 
eclipsed any possible extended interest in marionettes, so 
that aside from the value in preserving the traditional 
folk lore and legendary tales upon which the marionette 
playlets are based, the educational value is not suffi- 
ciently apparent to most people to warrant its having 
any extended vogue. 

MUSICAL 

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL (ITALIAN DIVI- 
SION)— Music is innate with the Italian. The result is 
that almost every social institution or organization 
created by these people whether educational, religious, 
recreational, etc., dabbles in it. There is no special 
musical organization of note in the city that caters 
exclusively to Italians, but one can be sure to find in 



184 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

every Italian-speaking church a choir, and in every 
settlement, a song or glee club. 

It is true, however, that of late Italians have gone 
into the musical field from a commercial angle so that 
the Italian colonies thruout the city are dotted with 
teachers of music. These instructors gather about them 
a group of pupils and give individual instruction that is 
very effective. There are at least five hundred music 
instructors or so-called professors of music among Ita- 
lian-speaking people in the greater city. 

A recent attempt to organize the Italians effectively 
so that they could present their national music and airs 
in an interesting and instructive way is the attempt 
started by Mrs. Kenneth J. Muir, of 48 West 58th Street. 
Mrs. Muir organized the International Musical Festival 
Chorus which included an important section "composed 
of foreign born citizens and their descendants." In this 
section there is an Italian division. 

The musical director for this division is the well known 
musical Prelate Francesco Magliocco. Under the leader- 
ship of Father Magliocco it was possible recently to pre- 
sent at Carnegie Hall a concert of exclusively Italian 
numbers. The splendid success that attended this virgin 
effort affords certain promise that repetitions will be 
frequent. 

If it is true, as the symposium in a later chapter shows, 
that it is thru his artistic sense that the American of 
Italian extraction contributes most, then undoubtedly it 
is this musical sense that needs a great deal more of 
proper drawing out and opportunity for development. 
Steps should be taken to remove this "art sense" from 
the commercialized setting into which it is rapidly being 
surrounded. This festival chorus is a step headed in the 
right direction. We have been lax in conserving the 
immigrant heritage which our various immigrants have 
to contribute. In the case of the Italian particularly we 
have been profligate with his artistic heritage. There is 
no doubt that the Americans of Italian extraction bring 
to us all the innate musical potentialities of their ances- 
tors. It remains for America to permit them to become 
fruitful. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 185 

EDUCATIONAL 

THE VERDI LADIES AUXILIARY— Was organized 
in 1910 for the purpose of raising funds sufficient to erect 
a school in the "Little Italy" settlement in East Harlem. 
The idea was to duplicate a center for educational and 
social welfare work uptown as is at present being suc- 
cessfully conducted downtown at the Italian School on 
Hester and Elizabeth Streets. 

The Verdi Auxiliary is conducted on thoroly modern 
club lines, and is continually active. Its meeting place is 
the Italian School where monthly gatherings are held. 
The Verdi Club is headed by the enterprising Mrs. Frank 
Zunino. In this she is assisted by the very able Miss 
Frugone, daughter of the owner and editor of the well- 
known Italian newspaper "11 Bolletino Delia Sera." The 
members are all women and number about fifty. Their 
homes are scattered in various parts of the city and its 
suburbs. The majority of the members are of Genoese 
descent. 

The members of the Verdi Auxiliary are examples of 
the finest type of Americans of Italian extraction in our 
midst. They come from homes where the people are 
comfortably well off. Not a few have been able to get 
a very good training. The group includes graduates 
from Barnard College, College of Mt. St. Vincent, 
Ursinus, and numerous private schools. 

The main object of the Auxiliary is to raise funds 
for a large school or settlement to be called the Verdi 
School in Harlem, and in their endeavors to do this they 
have recourse to a variety of means. 

During the last year the chief means resorted to was 
the giving of "periodic" teas at the Italian National 
Club. A substantial part of the fee charged was devoted 
to the fund. These teas were the occasion for dancing 
and social intercourse among the higher set of the Italian 
colony. Last year the receipts from this source netted 
thousands of dollars. 

At other times various other expedients are employed. 
Dances, picnics, dramatic plays, etc., are prepared by the 
members. It is not uncommon to split the proceeds 



186 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

with another organization, such as the Red Cross. This 
is an effort that is very commendable. The Verdi Auxi- 
liary is based upon a sound principle and the future will 
see changed into a reality, that which is now with them a 
hope ; namely, the erection of a modern equipped school 
building and social center for the Italian-speaking people 
of Harlem. 

This organization properly restricts its activities to 
those Italians and Americans that have money. In tins 
way only can it accomplish its purpose quickly. 

THE ITALIAN INTERCOLLEGIATE ASSOCIA- 
TION — This is a federation of the college circoli that 
are located in the universities in the vicinity of New 
York City. Its constituent clubs take in Columbia Uni- 
versity, City College of New York, Hunter College, 
New York University and Polytechnic. In scope the 
Italian Intercollegiate Association includes all that 
does the Menorah Intercollegiate Association among 
the collegiate Jews, minus its emphasis upon the 
question of religion and its now current emphasis upon 
a national state. 

Stated in the words of the President of the Associa- 
tion A. J. Armore "the Italian Intercollegiate Associa- 
tion was organized to provide the college-bred American 
of Italian extraction, both men and women, who are 
destined by force of circumstances to become the leaders 
of their people — an opportunity to show others that 
the spirit of co-operation which is instilled in them during 
their college years will be a dominant factor in their 
later activities in connection with the problems of their 
race."* 

Membership in the Federation is by club, not by indi- 
viduals. A yearly fee is required of each club which 
sends two delegates to an Intercollegiate Club Council. 
The Intercollegiate Club Council has as its chief aim, 
the welding together of these clubs and their consti- 
tuencies. To accomplish this, two activities were de- 
termined upon, (1) the holding of one major social event 
during the calendar year ; (2) the publication of a journal 
or magazine. 

♦Italian Intercollegiate, No. 1, Vol. 1, Passim. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 187 

Both these activities had been actively under way 
when the war broke out, crippling this enterprise. During 
its two years of existence an annual ball was held, the 
first at the Hotel Netherlands and the second at the 
Hotel Majestic. Both these affairs were attended by the 
intellectual flower of the Americans of Italian extrac- 
tion in New York City, and proved an immense success 
from every standpoint. 

The publication of the Italian Intercollegiate was 
started shortly afterwards with the following aims 
printed on the cover sheet of its inaugural issue, viz: 

"Aims of the "Italian Intercollegiate." 

1. To publish a periodical of excellent worth and 
quality and so provide for the intelligent expression of 
the growing co-operative spirit of Italian-Americans. 
This by : 

(a) Devoting its pages to Italian and Italian-American 
literature, art, social, educational and welfare work. 

(b) Providing a permanent and intelligent means of 
creating an "esprit de corps" among the Italians in New 
York City. 

2. To effectively protest against the too rapid lines 
of separation between the growing generation and the 
finer products of Italian culture, art, and industry. Fur- 
thermore, to help provide for the permanent retention 
in American culture of all forms of Italian achievement 
that have stood the test of time with respect to worth 
and value and should meet with greater diffusion. 

3. To attempt to give to the growing group of Italian- 
Americans a sense of direction in their co-operation so 
as to make for a more rational spirit of unity. 

4. To conduct a systematic literature campaign tend- 
ing to make the Italian-American better understood. 

5. To help prepare the soil of Italian-Americanism 
educationally, socially and politically out of which must 
spring a better love and appreciation for America and 
things American. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— It is 
this group that is to furnish the element of leadership 
for the one and one-half million Italian-speaking people 



188 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

of the United States. It is of too recent origin and the 
war has served to interrupt its work so that no ade- 
quate conclusions can be drawn with respect to its 
effectiveness.* 

THE ITALIAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND— was organ- 
ized in 1917 by a committee of Americans of Italian 
extraction interested in helping a greater number of the 
younger Americans to continue longer in school. By 
means of small regular allowances to the family of a 
deserving child, the stay of the latter in school was made 
possible. The chairman of the committee distributing 
the fund is Dr. Racca ; treasurer, Luigi Criscuolo. To 
date the fund has collected several hundred dollars and 
has awarded several scholarships. 

DANTE ALIGHIERI SOCIETY— The Dante Alighieri 
Society of New York is a branch of the mother society 
of the same name located at Rome, Italy. It was incor- 
porated in September 1912, and according to its president 
Joseph Francolini, — "it aims to propagate the Italian lan- 
guage and culture among foreigners everywhere. The 
New York Society holds meetings once a month. By 
means of literature and propaganda measures this society 
helps to keep alive the national prestige of Italy, and 
to maintain the Italian nationality among its immigrants, 
educating them to those healthy principles of liberty and 
of unity of which Dante Alighieri was the great apostle. 
Morally it depends for its support upon the Central Com- 
mittee located in Italy; financially each branch is self- 
supporting." 

The Dante Alighieri Society in Italy is composed of 
the most prominent men in politics, science, and art. In 
America, some very splendid branches have been organ- 
ized. The Jersey City Society is perhaps the most 
flourishing of any in this country. The more scholarly 
element of the Italian colony finds its way into this 



* Recently the Intercollegiate has taken up anew its original 
plan of activities and thanks to the interest of Commendatore 
Portfolio, Dr. De Vecchi and others will soon be able to push 
to a successful issue quite a few of its original undertakings. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 189 

organization and its meetings instance always a high 
quality of Italian literary values. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF DANTE ALIGHIERI 
SOCIETY TO COMMUNITY— In the Dante Alighieri 
Society we have the only example where an organization 
seeks deliberately and openly to disseminate the Italian 
language, Italian prestige, and Italian nationality among 
Italian immigrants in this country. It is safe to say, 
however, that to the "savant in art, science and politics" 
alone if to any one at all, can a mission of this sort be 
entrusted which will in no wise run counter to an un- 
qualified appreciation of Americanism. Their message 
is not to raise Italy by belittling America, but rather to 
inculcate a broader and firmer grasp of things American 
by instilling in such individuals a deeper appreciation 
of the country of their origin. 

DANTE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 

The Dante League of America was organized several 
years ago by Mrs. Heloise Durant Rose. It includes in 
its membership perhaps more Americans than Italians. 
It is an instance of almost purely Anglo-Saxon efifort to 
effect a wider appreciation of Italian art and culture, and 
in this it centers its attention for the most part upon the 
work and literature of Dante. The purpose of the league 
is to promote the knowledge and study of Dante, his 
works, language, literature and country, by popular lec- 
tures, and to prepare for a celebration in 1921 of the 
sixth hundreth anniversary of his death. 

The league has already established a chapter at Buf- 
falo. The president is William Roscoe Thayer, its vice- 
presidents are Henry Dwight Sedgwick and Prof. Chris- 
tian Gauss of Princeton. 

ANNUAL DUES 

Regular members $ 2.00 

College and University Students 1.00 

Patrons 50.00 

Sustaining members 10.00 

Benefactors 25.00 

Life members 100.00 



190 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Plans are already begun for the Dantian celebration 
to be held in 1921 which will be an event of national 
importance and will enlist the talent and interest of 
many individuals and organizations interested in Italy. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF DANTE LEAGUE TO 
ITALIAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITIES— It is a ques- 
tion whether this essentially literary effort will reach 
down far enough to waken any deep and sustained 
interest on the part of the more numerous classes of 
Americans of Italian extraction in the literature and 
philosophy of Dante. As a matter of fact such is not the 
intention of the league. Their aim is first of all to 
disseminate among all a wider and deeper appreciation 
of Dante, his works, and language. This organization 
has a sociological value and so is listed here because it is 
from just such activities as these that the real worth of 
a nation, whether it be Italy or any other nation, may 
be gauged. The unfortunate thing tho, is that a more 
extended support to the Dante League of America does 
not come from Italians themselves. 

FRATERNAL 

ALPHA PHI DELTA— There are three Greek frater- 
nities formed by Americans of Italian extraction and 
located in New York City. As fraternities are secretive, 
a good deal of the matter pertaining to their more inti- 
mate composition and history may not be divulged here. 
In few if any ways, however, excepting for that of a 
"common lineage" are they in any way different from 
other fraternities. 

The Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity is located at Columbia 
College and is now in its fifth year. The Alpha Chapter 
is located at Syracuse University. The purpose of Alpha 
Phi Delta is to develop the social, educational, physical 
and moral welfare of its members by the usual program 
of fraternity life. The Chapter house is located at 600 W. 
113th Street. The number of members at its date of 
inception, three years ago was fifteen ; to-day this has 
grown to thirty-five. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 191 

The first prerequisite for membership, of course, is 
affiliation with Columbia. About fifty per cent of the 
members are doing work in the University's Graduate 
School, chiefly in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons. There has been a strange tendency of late for 
Americans of Italian extraction to swing into medicine. 
Fully eighty per cent of the students in the college within 
the past three years have given this as their ultimate 
profession. The reason for this is difficult to determine. 
In part tho, it is due to the urging of the parents desir- 
ous of having a son in one of the professions, a fact 
conveying great prestige. In some cases, this forcing 
him into a vocation for which he may be fit solely thru 
the desires of the parent, rebounds to the lad's dis- 
advantage. Already half a dozen fellows out of twenty 
or thirty students at Columbia who had chosen a medical 
calling have been forced to give it up. 

As a group, Alpha Phi Delta carries on all of the social 
activities of any well-ordered fraternity. The members 
represent not only the best type of the Italian element 
that goes to Columbia but also those most fortunately 
situated financially. In this way they are able to carry 
on projects that Italians of other groups find impossible. 
They instance in this connection the normal character 
of development that is possible with people of Italian 
blood when permitted a normal chance of development. 
It is not meant that these individuals as members of 
Alpha Phi Delta are superior to other Americans of 
Italian extraction belonging to other groups but that the 
others have been submitted to influences that are largely 
subnormal. 

This chapter has consistently refused to divert its 
efforts and support anything that is not of strictly 
"campus" origin. They have felt that unless this were 
so they would be departing from the strict observance 
of unwritten fraternity etiquette. While therefore as a 
group they have circumscribed the nature of the rela- 
tions to that larger portion of the American community 
of which the Italian forms a part — nevertheless as indi- 
viduals they have shown an unqualified spirit of spon- 



192 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

taneous and generous co-operation with all things per- 
taining to the welfare and uplift of their people. 

In the years to come these individuals will furnish 
the backbone of leadership and the key of understanding 
for the 700,000 Italians in New York City. Financially, 
they will dictate the policies for welfare and uplift ; edu- 
cationally, from their ranks must rise the pioneers in 
the great movement for the wholesale education of the 
Italian-speaking masses; and morally they will serve as 
the sources of inspiration and gui^e in the already well- 
defined general step upward. 

SIGMA PHI THETA— This fraternity was organized 
at the Italian Industrial School in 1915. The former 
Superintendent of Schools of the Children's Aid Society 
and its Principal were interested in this movement from 
the start and helped formulate its ritual, constitution, 
and by-laws, etc. Its meetings are held in the same 
school and its members before the war totalled twenty- 
five. They were chosen from the colony of Italians living 
in the Mulberry Bend section and have up to the present 
kept together, showing a fine spirit of co-operation and 
mutual helpfulness. 

DELTA OMEGA PHI— This is the third fraternal 
organization located in New York City whose members 
are all of Italian extraction. The ages of the twenty 
odd members vary from twenty-one to thirty. About 
one-half are married. 

This organization is so secretive that very little in- 
formation about its activities may be divulged here. As 
a type they represent the finest expression of American- 
ism that is to be seen among Americans of Italian ex- 
traction. Its organizers were Oleri, Barbieri, Dr. Croce, 
Dr. Verrilli and Belserene. 

SOCIAL WELFARE 

THE ITALICA GENS— The Italica Gens is a free fed- 
eration of the Italian Catholic clergy in the United 
States supported by the Italian National Association for 
Catholic Missionaries. The federation maintains a gen- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 193 

eral information bureau which devotes special attention 
to the distribution of Italian immigrants. One of its 
important functions is to induce Italian immigrants to 
locate in farm colonies. This bureau is at present being 
conducted under the able leadership of Father Grivetti, 
D. D. 

Besides its character as a general clearing house for 
information it assists in finding work, tracing lost per- 
sons and packages, exacts salaries and compensations for 
accidents, secures homes for orphans and invalids, helps 
the sick and poor with free transportation to Italy, writes 
and transmits correspondence for the illiterate, and sup- 
plies copies of official documents, etc. All this is done 
without distinction being paid to race, tho Italians are 
heavily in the majority among those receiving such aid. 
No fees are exacted for these services. 

The Italica Federation also supplies all kinds of Italian 
labor, including waiters and servants, farmers and gar- 
deners, etc. Offices are maintained in all of the boroughs 
of New York City as well as thruout the United States 
and Canada. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF THIS ORGANIZA- 
TION TO THE COMMUNITY— This is an organization 
that is interested in helping the individual and resembles 
more nearly the working of our own Charity Organiza- 
tion Society than any other organization doing a similar 
work among Italians. 

RECREATIONAL 

THE ITALIAN AMERICAN SCOUTCRAFT ASSO- 
CIATION — The Italian American Scoutcraft Association 
was started in April 1917, and was organized for the 
purpose of bringing the "scouting" program to the Italian 
speaking boys not only in New York City but thruout 
all the Italian colonies in the United States. 

Apart from the recreational aspect that "scouting" 
presents in the development of any boy, this particular 
association was created for the purpose of assisting in 
Americanizing the thousands of Americans of Italian ex- 



194 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

traction located in this country. As such it was recog- 
nized by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of 
America and was accorded an unusual amount of sym- 
pathy and even financial support from the Chief Scout 
Executive, James E. West of the Boy Scouts of America. 

In no way do the actual scouting features indulged in 
by troops organized by this association differ from those 
organized elsewhere. The supervision in both instances 
is the same. The association seeks to enlist the sym- 
pathies and efforts of the Italian heads of the institutions 
where Americans of Italian extraction are in any num- 
ber, to the end that they may undertake to take up 
"scouting" as a form of institutional activity for their 
boys. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF "SCOUTCRAFT 
ASSOCIATION" TO COMMUNITY— This association 
represents an attempt to create a national medium thru 
which might be reflected a distinctly American program 
and American boys of Italian extraction be made to di- 
rectly benefit therefrom. There are two distinct advan- 
tages that arise in connection with this enterprise. One 
is the intimate affiliation with an organization represent- 
ing a distinctly American coloring such as is the Boy 
Scouts of America. The second is the development of 
an "esprit de corps" among the scout troops in Italian 
colonies that makes them feel that they are part of a 
large American movement that commands the respect 
and support of all Americans. 

The association has met with a wide support from both 
Italian and American elements. The boys themselves 
have taken to it, as some five hundred scouts enrolled 
in its activities can testify. 

ARTS AND INDUSTRY 

There are innumerable companies, societies and other 
organizations scattered thruout New York Citv engaged 
in imitating, copying and putting forth samples of Italian 
art and industry for solely commercial purposes. It 
would be a bit risky to describe the character of the 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 195 

work of such organizations because in part it is modified 
by their necessities for meeting commercial standards. 

SCUOLA D'INDUSTRIE ITALIANE— This school is 
the one instance of its kind that we have in the city, 
engaged in revising the lost art of Italian needlecraft 
and embroidery for purposes that are not commercial. 
At frequent intervals there have been attempts to bring 
back to popular vogue the unsurpassable and exquisite 
forms of Italian handicraft in laces. In this particular 
instance art is being produced for art's sake. The attempt 
is commendable not only because it is unique and is the 
only institution of its kind in New York City but because 
the Scuola fills what has been discovered to be a very 
real gap between the past and the present. It is a pity 
that greater attention is not paid to the proper relation 
and conservation of both the industrial and artistic handi- 
craft representing part of the immigrant heritage that 
the Italian-speaking population has to offer us. Each 
race of immigrants has its own peculiar contribution to 
render and in the sphere of artistic handiwork such as 
lace, embroidery, etc., the Italian has for a long period 
of years been without a peer. 

In 1905 the Scuola DTndustrie Italiane was founded 
from the desire of reviving the beautiful Italian art of 
the needle among the Italian women of America. It 
was hoped that this result if attained even in slight 
degree, would call attention to the artistic skill of our 
Italian immigrants who possess qualities rich in possi- 
bilities for beauty and good which we, too often over- 
looking, allow to be perverted or lost in occupations un- 
congenial or unsuited to their temperaments. 

Some years ago there sprang up in Italy, quite spon- 
taneously, a revival of the old local hand industries sti- 
mulated and encouraged by patriotic and philanthropic 
women who eventually founded Le Industrie Femminili, 
a co-operative society in which the King, Queen and the 
Queen's mother were interested. 

The work has prospered so that now there are a num- 
ber of successful enterprises renowned for their lace and 
linen specialities such as the Aemilia Arts at Bologna, 



196 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

the Marchesa Sorbello's School at Passignano and Mar- 
chesa De Vitti de Marco's in the south. 

Of the women interested, no one has been more in- 
strumental in establishing these old hand arts than 
Signorina Carolina Amari of Florence, whose taste and 
knowledge are everywhere in demand when a new "labo- 
ratorio" is to be opened. Her own collection of examples 
of early embroideries and laces is a storehouse of his- 
toric and artistic information upon which school after 
school has drawn. This fountain of inspiration as well 
as her personal services Signorina Amari placed at the 
disposal of the committee formed in New York at the 
time of the opening of the Scuola in the heart of the 
Italian colony at 28 Macdougal Street. 

There is another object which the committee has had 
in mind in undertaking this work — the wish to bear a 
part in the pioneer work of establishing art studio centers 
where the wage-earners of our great cities who are fitted 
for, or desire to pursue, hand arts may have opportuni- 
ties to apply themselves to their work with something of 
the freedom of choice which the machine or mercantile 
worker finds in the factory and the shop. The real wage- 
earner, especially our immigrant woman wage-earner 
coming to us with a heritage of hand deftness and artistic 
skill, has had among us practically neither shop nor 
mart for her valuable skilled labor. 

The Scuola's endeavor has been not so much to estab- 
lish a school in which to train workers and then send 
them out to their life work but rather to maintain a 
Scuola in the old-time meaning and spirit of the word — 
a place where master and artisan work together, side 
by side, in the production of things of beauty and worth. 

The first year and a half of the Scuola's existence 
was naturally its experimental period ; but during the 
last four years the work has been entirely self-support- 
ing, a fact which leads one to hope that it may now be 
regarded as permanently established in our city life. 

The workroom is still at 28 Macdougal Street, and 
has been successively under the able superintendance of 
Signora D'Annunzio and of her no less skilled sister, Sig- 
nora de Blasio. A small shop is maintained at 1 East 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 197 

45th Street, where an everchanging stock is exhibited 
of the articles produced by the Scuola's workers. 

The year 1908 was particularly signalized by the gra- 
cious interest shown in the undertaking by Her Majesty, 
Queen Margherita, who has taken the Scuola under her 
personal patronage. The emblem adopted by the Scuola 
• — the two-tailed Mediterranean mermaid or Sirena (the 
Amari coat-of-arms) — was a choice especially favored 
by the Queen Mother as typifying the women's work of 
all Italy — "il bel paese ch' Appennin parte e'l mar cir- 
conda e I'Alpe." 

The aim is to aid Italian women directly, to draw the 
attention of the public by sales and exhibitions of work 
to the more valuable and appealing side of our Italian 
immigration, and to help in the establishment of indus- 
trial art studios among the wage-earners of our popu- 
lation. 

RELATION AND EFFECT TO COMMUNITY— The 
Scuola has had the active sympathy, co-operation and 
financial support of many prominent Americans including 
the Roosevelts, Giddings, C. A. Plimpton, Seth Low, 
M. E. Stone, the Colgates, and Jane Addams. 

A technical committee whose members are careful 
students of laces and embroideries has endeavored not 
only to have faithful copies made of antique designs 
but to reproduce their spirit in suitable adaptations to 
modern needs, some of the more common designs are 
the Francesca, Acorn, Taormina, Macrome, Florentine, 
etc. These old Italian designs are woven into table 
cloths, curtains, napkins, children's articles, bedspreads, 
— and are a definite link between the old world and the 
new. It is the one intelligent link between the past and 
the present that has not been defiled by rampant com- 
mercialism. 

The workers in the Scuola are all of Italian stock and 
keep alive a true spirit of Italy at its highest. It instances 
to Americans a value of Italy that is not generally 
known. The idea of attempting to preserve and care- 
fully guard the particular heritage that any nation hdS 
to makf' is new. This Scuola is an instance showing 



198 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

intelligent social action on this point at least. The 
Italians themselves are proud of the Scuola and point it 
out as something that is really Italian. 

THE ITALIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 

INTRjODUCTION— The Italian School started sixty- 
four years ago on the 10th of December, 1855, in the one 
room of an old dilapidated frame house which was the 
property of the Five Points House of Industry and 
located at 155 Worth Street. The school started with 
an attendance of about fifty pupils which consisted of 
both men and women. It was founded by Mr. Ernest 
Fabbri. The first teacher was Mr. Cerqua. 

The Italian School stayed in this building twelve years, 
until 1867, when it was moved to 44 Franklin Street. It 
soon outgrew its new quarters and four years later, 1871, 
it was moved into a larger building, next door, 46 Frank- 
lin Street. 

The growth of the school continued and three years 
later, 1874, the school was moved to 155 Leonard Street 
in a building erected especially for this purpose. The 
school occupied this site for thirty-five years. 

Its growth and needs becoming greater, it finally was 
moved to 155 Worth Street, the exact spot where the 
school started fifty-four years before. The old frame 
building in which the school was started, had been torn 
down and replaced by a large eight-story modern struc- 
ture. In fifty-four years the school had traveled around 
and back to its starting place. The city's need for the 
Worth Street site caused an additional removal, a new 
ten-story modern fire-proof building was erected on 
the corner of Hester and Elizabeth Streets thru the 
generosity of Arthur Curtiss James, in whose honor to- 
day the building is called the James Memorial Building. 

The new building is believed by experts to be the best 
example of a social settlement school and cost $300,000. 
It is not only up-to-date in every appointment but 
attractive in appearance. 

The school had during 1916-17 an enrollment of 2500. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 199 

Some new features recently added are a Day Nursery, 
Moving- Pictures, Open Air Class and Open Air Play- 
ground. 

The Principal is Mrs. L. E. Deferrari-Weygandt*, who 
has been connected with the school for forty-two years 
and to whom the success and the rapid progress of the 
school are largely due. She is the dominating spirit of 
the "Five Points" and is respected and loved by the entire 
community. 

Mrs. Weygandt's work is being taken over by her 
daughter, Lillian J". Weygandt, who in turn its being as- 
sisted by Miss Irma Liccione. Both Miss Weygandt and 
Miss Liccione are graduates of Barnard College and they 
bring to their work a point of view that is one hundred 
per cent American. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF THE ITALIAN 
SCHOOL TO COMMUNITY— The place that the Italian 
School has in relation to the large Italian colony down- 
town is as unusual as it is important. It is the largest 
organized centre for educational and social welfare work 
among Italians in the lower part of the city. 

It conducts a varied programme. Besides the regular 
day school, supervised by the Board of Education of 
New York City, it has a large evening school wnth an 
attendance in the winter totalling 1000 pupils. Apart 
from regular academic instruction, classes are held in 
cooking, sewing, embroidery, carpentry, sign painting 
and printing. A large number of boys and girls enter 
the recreational, athletic, dramatic clubs, which meet 
there. It is the best ordered and best equipped agency 
for social work among Italians not only in Manhattan 
but thruout the entire city. 

Most of all, this institution has thruout its many years 
of existence slowly gained the confidence and respect of 
the Italian-speaking population and any activity that 
emanates from within its walls, is assured of their sym- 
pathy and co-operation. 

The school has made a major feature of citizenship and 
English language classes. It represents a high-grade 
Americanizing agency. Its success has been so marked 
that it has been an inspiration for the Verdi Ladies 
* Deceased Feb. 20, 1921. 



200 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Auxiliary to duplicate a similar institution in the Little 
Italy colony in Harlem. 

SOCIETY FOR ITALIAN WOMEN— The Society for 
Italian Women was organized some years ago at the 
Greenwich House with Mrs. C. F. Bound, president, and 
Mrs. Simkhovitch, vice-president. Its chief aim was to 
further the education of Italian-speaking girls by means 
of scholarship and vocational advice. Besides this it 
seeks to act as a general clearing house for all social 
agencies dealing with Italian girls sixteen years old and 
over. 

This society holds that there are certain advantages 
to be had in retaining with the American girl of Italian 
extraction the distinctive traits she inherits from her 
ancestors. They feel that in making lace, in following 
music, art and other industrial and handicraft activities, 
these first generations of Americans are preserving and 
perpetuating their Italian heritage and are doing more 
for America and for themselves than if they went into 
a factory or learned a trade. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF THIS SOCIETY TO 
ITALIAN COMMUNITY— Education for women in Italy 
is not a general thing and considering the economic 
status of the majority of cases with which a society of 
this sort has to deal its first aid must be of a financial 
character. 

By means of a liberal distribution of scholarships the 
parents of the girls receiving them are able to live with- 
out the assistance of their children who would other- 
wise be in the factories. Vocational advice now can be 
offered and applied and such a child is permitted to apply 
herself uninterruptedly to the task of turning out lace, 
music, embroidery or of learning the Italian language 
in a way as not to make a real Italian blush for shame. 
The principle underlying this organization is fundamen- 
tally sound and it fills a much desired need. Most of 
the difficulty which the charitable and social welfare 
organizations started for Italian-speaking people en- 
counter in their efforts to be effective, overlook the eco- 
nomic basis upon which all such efforts must rest if they 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 201 

are not to fail. In this instance the money that this 
society has been able to collect and distribute by means 
of scholarships to Italian girls has been worth the effort 
expended. 

PROPAGANDA ORGANIZATION 

THE ROMAN LEGION— There are two organizations 
doing propaganda work among Americans of Italian 
extraction in New York City. Both are of recent origin 
and owe their inception in a large measure to conditions 
arising directly from the war. One of the direct con- 
sequences of the war was to create a renewed interest in 
Italy and things Italian. The Roman Legion of America 
was organized by Dr. Antonio Stella and Judge John 
J. Freschi to combat the insidious forms of Bolshevism 
that threatened to creep into the Italian mind. The 
Roman Legion is an organization of Americans of Italian 
descent organized for patriotic purposes and particularly 
for the combating of enemy propaganda among the Ita- 
lian-speaking population of America. 

The particular purpose of the Legion is to counteract 
false reports about the army and navy and temper of 
the people both in Italy and in the United States which 
enemy agents have been actively circulating among 
Italian-speaking people. During the war counter propa- 
ganda thru the Italian press and thru a special corps of 
speakers had been organized and this work was followed 
up by intensive patriotic work conducted in various parts 
of the country thru local committees. 

The following resolution adopted at its first meeting 
and sent to President Wilson is an indication of the 
general tone and spirit of this organization : 

"The New York City Division of the Roman Legion of 
America, a national organization devoted to meeting pro- 
German propaganda, in convention assembled: 

"Resolves to place at the disposal of the National Gov- 
ernment and of the State authorities our facilities and 
our services to the end that Hun lies disseminated among 
the Italian-speaking people of America shall be met 
with truth. 



202 THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

"We appeal to the people of Italian origin to suppoi't 
by every means at their command, thru the press and 
otherwise, the President of the United States, the Gov- 
ernor of the State of New York and the administration 
in each city of the state in this war. 

In the words of the President of the Legion : 

"This organization will seek to form together a Na- 
tional organization of defence against the enemy propa- 
ganda but we want to throw all our resources instantly 
into the struggle, to preserve the spirit of endurance of 
our people at home and the morale of our troops at the 
front. We want to organize for home service. But be- 
sides its immediate purpose, this Legion may have a 
further significance in the future, and may plant the seed 
of a powerful alliance of all Italian resources in this 
country for concerted work after the war, when the 
reconstruction period will begin. 

"The Legion will have a dual function ; on the one 
hand, it will try to unearth and discover and nullify pro- 
Germanism wherever it is lurking; on the other hand 
it will assert and reaffirm our confidence and pride in 
the great work that the United States and Italy are 
doing for the benefit of mankind and will try to focus the 
attention of the public on these achievements. Such an 
alliance may bridge the gulf which now separates public 
opinion in the two countries, clearing up and eliminating 
misunderstandings, and interpreting the efficient work 
of one country in behalf of the other."* 

ITALY AMERICA SOCIETY— The other organiza- 
tion recently formed to create a more sympathetic union 
between the peoples of Italy and of America is the 
Italy-America Society. The President of this society is 
Mr. Charles E. Hughes; its vice-president Mr. Thomas 
W. Lamont. During the war this society sought by 
means of the fullest use of modern publicity methods to 
put forth the correct position of Italy in the present war. 
This was done by means of speeches, conferences, social 
gatherings, patriotic functions, etc. It was upon the 
instigation of this society that President Wilson desig- 

* Dr. Antonio Stella. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 203 

nated the last May 24th as Italy Day, and called upon all 
loyal Americans of all extractions to do honor to Italy 
for the part she played in the war. 

The society conducted a series of parades and other 
out-door gatherings at which speakers in both English 
and Italian explained how important Italy was to the 
Entente's cause. In the evening of that same day an 
important reception was held at Carnegie Hall at which 
speeches by the Italian Ambassador, Secretary of War 
Baker, Charles E. Hughes and other notables were deliv- 
ered. The crowd was so immense that thousands were 
refused admittance. This event was considered impor- 
tant enough for II Carroccio to dedicate a memorial 
volume to this occasion. 

RELATION AND EFFECT OF THESE ORGANIZA- 
TIONS TO COMMUNITY— It is too early to judge yet 
the full value of the work of either of these two organ- 
izations described because of their recency.* Of late the 
Italy America Society has widened its scope and gives 
promise of being the most influential organization en- 
gaged in the task of intellectual interpretation of Italy 
to Americans. A great deal of the success of this or- 
ganization is due to its able manager, Irwin Smith. 
Great things are expected of this organization in the 
future. 

THE ITALIAN BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMA- 
TION — We put in here no description save the mere 
mentioning by name of this bureau. It is purely an 
Italian activity subsidized by the Italian Government 
and aims to present the merits and force of Italy's posi- 
tion in the war. It has offices at 42nd Street and Fifth 
Avenue. Its methods are those of publicity of facts thru 
all the channels of legitimate propaganda. It issues a 
fortnightly bulletin called "Italy To-day." The Bureau 
during the war was under the direction of the well- 
equipped Dr. Felice Ferrero whose associate is Prof. 

* Recently two other organizations have been formed which 
aim to help Italy. These are The Italian Welfare League and 
The Tribute to Italy. 



204 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Costa of City College. Because of its purely Italian 
complexion no discussion is attempted here of its activi- 
ties other than to state that for the American of Italian 
extraction it offers little that he can be said to appreciate. 
Its greatest usefulness perhaps is with Italians located 
in centers away from New York. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 205 



PART V 

WHAT THE AMERICAN OF ITALIAN EXTRACTION 
CONTRIBUTES TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

CHAPTER XX 

INTRODUCTION 

REASONS FOR PHRASE "AMERICANS OF ITAL- 
IAN EXTRACTION" — What does the American of 
Italian extraction contribute to our American demo- 
cracy? Thruout this study the hyphen Italian-American 
has been carefully avoided in order not to lead anyone to 
the conclusion that we are concerned with a type that is 
hyphenated. The term Italian-American is a hyphen of 
objectionable character. One of the results of the war 
has been to develop a strong sentiment antagonistic to 
hyphenated citizenship. The "state" is justified in ask- 
ing that its citizens be one hundred per cent citizens. In 
our country whether one is anything else is a matter of 
great importance because of the remarkable hetero- 
geneity of racial stocks. Different ethnic elements in a 
population, unquestionably tend to create communities 
within communities. Prof. Jastrow's views of hyphen- 
ated citizenship will repay one for the reading.* He 
raises the question whether a Jew sould divide his alle- 
giance between Palestine and the country where he made 
his home. It cannot be said that even to-day this con- 
cept of "Americanism" is as clear cut as we would like 
to have it.** In speaking of the individuals concerned in 

* See remarks by Dr. Jastrow, Jr., on "The Danger of a 
Hyphenated Citizenship." Menorah Journal, June 1918. 

** The way different writers have looked on this point is 
shown by the following quotations, viz: "Of course a man who 
is born in a foreign country is in every sense of the word a 
foreigner though he may have been Americanized by his resi- 
dence in the United States." Federation, July 1912, p. 41.) 

"In one sense all the inhabitants of the United States are 
immigrants. The only exception would be the descendants of 



206 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

our study the fact of their Americanism is a matter that 
can scarcely be said to be universally accepted. The 
contention offered thruout is that the second generation 
of Italians are Americans first and last. One grants that 
in many cases the type is not normal or what we would 
like to see obtain when we think or speak of the ultimate 
American type. But essentially they are Americans of a 
type created, shaped, and formed in a large part by 
American life and American conditions. 

DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY— When we come to 
define Democracy we come to a still more difficult prob- 
lem. Democracy has been defined by many and the defi- 
nitions have been as varied as has been the number of 
people so defining. To many DEMOCRACY is a word 
used synonymously with AMERICANISM. In a sym- 
posium contributed to by many leaders of American 
thought it was seen that each individual who attempted 
a definition unconsciously interpreted "democracy" ac- 
cording to the peculiar bent of his own experience.* How 
undetermined and unanalyzed "democracy" as a con- 
cept still is, Prof. Hamilton shows with great clearness.** 
Prof. Giddings questioning thousands of immigrants re- 
garding what they thought Americanism represented to 
them said that two ideas stood out most prominently 

* "What is Americanism" American Journal of Sociology, 
Vol. 20, pp. 433-486; 613-628. 

** "The Price System and Social Policy." W. H. Hamilton, 
Journal of Political Economy, January, 1918. 

the aborigines." (Extrait du Bulletin de I'lnstitut International 
de Statistique, p. 38. Dr. Richmond Mayo-Smith.) 

"It is unreasonable to expect that an adult who has spent the 
early years of his development in a foreign country can in his 
own life time be assimilated if by assimilation we mean that 
complete absorption into the body politic so as to make it im- 
possible to recognize him as of foreign birth. If assiinilation 
in that sense is to be the standard for the admission of immi- 
grants, then it is very doubtful whether any immigrants could 
logically be admitted. It is doubtful however whether anyone 
seriously expects that such assimilation is possible excepting 
in rare instances." (Albert Shiels, "The School and the Immi- 
grant" p. 8, Division of Reference and Research, Bulletin 11, 
Department of Education, New York City.) 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 207 

(1) opportunity for a better chance educationally, eco- 
nomically, etc., and (2) prestige (America was a country 
big and powerful), that the American flag stood for big- 
ness rather than for the feeling of reverence that goes 
with generations of living. 

It would be both interesting and instructive to list 
some of the current notions of "democracy." The first 
is an Italian's "the progress of all for all under the 
leadership of the best and the wisest" — Mazzini (quoted 
by N. Murray Butler) in "True and False Democracy" ; 
"Democracy's chief essential feature should be the su- 
premacy of the people's brain" (Albert Stickney — "Or- 
ganized Democracy," p. 238) ; "Externally Democracy 
is a piece of machinery — internally it is the eiTective 
embodiment of the moral idea which consists in the de- 
velopment of all the social capacities of every individual 
of society" (Dewey and Tufts ; Ethics, p. 474) ; "as a 
form of government democracy consists in the actual 
administration of political affairs through universal suf- 
frage — as a form of the state it is popular sovereignty, 
i. e., popular distribution of formal political power" 
(Franklin H. Giddings ; Democracy and Empire, p. 203) ; 
"democracy must risk its success on the integrity of 
human nature" (Progressive Democracy — Herbert Croly, 
p. 27) ; "democrary is an expression of the v/orth and 
intelligence of the individual — it is a spirit, a view- 
point, an expression of faith in the ability of society as a 
whole to govern itself (Geo. H. Betts, Social Principles 
of Education, p. 83) ; "the end goal of democracy is a 
social goal. It is the improvement, physical, intellec- 
tual and moral, of the millions who make up the democ- 
racy. It is such an advancement and increase of the 
progressive masses that the gains made in the political 
and industrial fields may be increased, retained and 
wisely utilized" (The New Democrary — Walter E. Weyl, 
p. 319) ; "democracy is a way of life, a use of freedom 
and embrace of opportunity" (Walter Lippman, "Drift 
and Mastery," p. 16). 

If we may be permitted a socio-psychological defini- 
tion of what we consider democracy to mean it would 
be something like this — "that form of social organiza- 



20b THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

tion within which there is permitted to a maximum 
number of individuals a maximum opportunity for a 
maximum functioning of a maximum number of socially 
acceptable original capacities maximally developed."* In 
less technical language this can be understood to mean a 
condition of society where each and every man has 
a fair chance to develop himself according to his own 
predispositions and knows that he has that chance. 

Having marked out clearly the type of individual 
whose contribution we are discussing and having de- 
fined what we understand to be the meaning of democ- 
racy in this connection it remains for us to show how 
these two are tied up and effect what we understand 
to be the chief problem in our American society from a 
socio-ethnic standpoint, namely the synthetization of 
our composite population groups from the standpoint of 
one of these groups, i.e., the Italian. 

* This definition of ours follow the usage of the language of 
Thorndike whose study of human instincts for all cooperative 
action seems the furthest advanced to-day. As such, though, it 
is not closed to certain objections. See — Human Nature in 
Politics, W. C. Mitchell, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 29. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 209 

CHAPTER XXI 
OLD IDEAS REGARDING ITALIANS 

INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF ITALIAN— The 
American of Italian extraction has sprung from a people 
that are unfortunately too little known. The French 
have a proverb which when translated means "To un- 
derstand is to excuse." If not only the Italian but the 
dozens of other racial groups were better understood 
perhaps less of what is really condemnable would be 
found. 

Fortunately the older idea that a large proportion of 
the Italians who come to our shores are registered 
members of a Black Hand or a Camorra society, is 
being rapidly if not altogether dispelled to-day. Also 
universally rejected, to-day, is the concept that if an 
Italian does not secure his living in this surreptitious 
manner he is a beggar or an organ-grinder or some 
other semi-parasitic creature. There was a time when 
the more important task in interpreting foreigners (and 
this holds true of all nationalities) was to explain away 
traditional fallacies and leave to some future generation 
the task of intelligent constructive interpretation. In 
this day however, the task is to point out the nature and 
background of the Americans of different racial stocks 
that are with us, and show what are the positive aspects 
of real worth and value that their natures offer. 

In the case of the racial type under our observation 
the great physical enterprises of our country, industrial 
plants and public utilities are silent but eloquent monu- 
ments of their real worth. No better statement of the 
fundamental steadiness and soberness of character of 
these people is to be had than the statement of the late 
Mayor Gaynor, who in speaking of the Italians said: 
"Take the Italian whom all of us are so ready to condemn 
as undesirable citizens — with all of them departed to- 
morrow this nation would come to an absolute stand- 
still." So much for the parents of the type we are study- 
ing and whom we have ruled out of this study as being 



210 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

too far ingrained with the culture of the "homeland" to 
be able to contribute creatively to American democracy. 

TYPE OF ITALIAN THAT COMES HERE— Inci- 
dental to this problem, but important in helping to create 
a snap judgment, is the fact that the type of Italians 
that come here are not Italy's favored sons. By far 
the majority of these people are people w^hose ances- 
tors came from the southern part of Italy where economic 
and intellectual advantages afforded are exceedingly sub- 
normal. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that these 
people are lowest in the scale of culture among immi- 
grants that come to our shores. Of this difference be- 
tween the Northern and Southern Italians, Stella has 
said: "The mistake is in assuming that such is due to 
innate deficiencies. More than otherwise such inferior- 
ity of mental and social standing is a consequence of the 
lack of opportunity."* For in the large, if immigration 
to America has done naught else, it has proved that but 
few race characteristics, if any, are fixed. Should some 
skeptic wish to be convinced on this point, let him visit 
such towns as South Bend, Indiana, Scranton, Pennsyl- 
vania, or Youngstown, Ohio, and look at the Slavs or 
Italians who came here twenty years ago. Let him go 
among those who have had the full advantage of our en- 
vironment, our standard of living, of education and en- 
lightening religion. He will find what we call real 
characteristics almost obliterated from the faces of even 
the first generation. The sluggish Pole has become 
vivacious, the fiery Italian has had his blood cooled to 
a temperature approved by even the most fastidious of 
those who believe that fervor and enthusiasm are not 
signs of good breeding.** 

RECENCY OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION— As im- 
portant as any other single fact is the comparative re- 
cency of Italian immigration. As our statistics showed 
no Italian immigration of any moment appeared before 
1882 when but 32,160 entered. As late as 1850 there were 
fewer than 4000 immigrants from Italy in the whole 
United States. From that time on until 1914 — the year 

* Stella, Antonio Dr., Effetti deH'Urbanismo, p, 44. 
** Steiner, "The Immigrant Tide," p. 55, 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 211 

of the Great War the annual immigration from Italy 
has steadily increased until it had reached the stupendous 
figures of 283,738 or 5000 more, in 1914, than entered 
from Austria-Hungary which was its nearest competitor. 
Two-fifths of the entire afflux from Italy directed itself 
to this country, the remaining going to South America.* 
These hundreds of thousands are excluded from this 
study. It is with their children as it is with the grow- 
ing generations of the descendants of the thirty-three 
other immigrant races that the hope of America chiefly 
lies.** 

FRICTION DUE TO MAL-ADJUSTMENT— Much 
of the friction and misunderstanding encountered in 
dealing with these people is due to the social mal- 
adjustment. Ignorance of the language, lack of com- 
prehension of the laws and their purpose make for fre- 
quent disorder. It is because of this lack of proper 
setting or "sociological milieu" that nine-tenths of the 
troubles of this class arise. Dr. Jones says on this 
point "the Italians have come here from a land of sun- 
shine to a land of climatic extremes and to a city gov- 
ernment of alternating laxity and legal restraint. . . . 
their curiosity often expends itself in acts of disorder 
and law-breaking prompted by the desire to see how 
far they can go in this land of the free." 

Whether the American of Italian extraction is able 
to make an effective contribution to American democ- 
racy is dependent in a large measure upon heredity. 
Whether he actually makes it or not, assuming the here- 
ditary basis to exist, is dependent for the most part upon 
the socio-politico-economic organization and environ- 
ment of the land in which he lives. On the former point 
Professor Steiner, who has studied these people first- 
hand, has stated that "Race characteristics which were 
regarded as biological, are found to be sociological, and 
on the outside, not the inside"; on the latter Boodin has 
shown that "Differences between standards of cultures 
and customs which constitute the web of life of one 

* Tittoni, Senator Tommaso, Italy's Foreign and Colonial 
Policy, p. 162. 
** Census poplation 1910. 



212 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

people as distinct from another, are sociological not 
psychological."* 

If the belief were to continue and spread that the 
peoples constituting the newer generation are objec- 
tionable because they are unassimilable, mentally in- 
ferior and morally degenerate, and that they persist in 
maintaining a standard of living that in time will under- 
mine the welfare of this nation (when as we have seen 
above these differences are differences in opportunity 
for the most part) the outcome would be manifestly un- 
fair to those constituting the "newer generation." Amer- 
ica's foremost place has been assured to her in the past 
because she has never given herself up to this narrow 
philosophy. 

In this connection, Grace Abbott of the Federal Chil- 
dren's Bureau, has delivered herself with no uncertain 
force : "To many Americans the so-called foreign colonies 
in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, seem to be 
reproductions of Italy, Greece, Poland or Russia. But 
to the immigrant the street on which he lives is so un- 
like the one on which he lived at home, that he believes 
them to be thoroughly American. These foreign neigh- 
borhoods of ours are neither Italian, Greek, Polish or 
Russian, nor are they American. A sympathetic knowl- 
edge of the hopes and life of the peoples of these un- 
American American neighborhoods is rare among us. . . . 
there are Americans who resent an immigrant as an out- 
sider. Some feel that to take account deliberately in our 
social planning of differences in customs and traditions 
would be dangerous recognition of our un-Americanism. 
Those Americans consider our institutions more impor- 
tant than the ends these institutions were created to 



serve. 



'** 



* "Social Systems," J. E. Boodin, American Journal of Socio- 
logy, May 1918. 

** Publications of the American Sociological Society, Vol. 12 
— Social Control, "The Immigrant in Community Planning," 
pp. 166 passim. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 213 

CHAPTER XXII 
THE PRESENT VIEWPOINT 

It is not difficult to show the inaccuracy of the charges 
outHned in the last section, that were made both against 
the Italian and the younger generation. The best evi- 
dence is the activities organized, administered and en- 
tered into by both these people. Industries of every 
description and all of the professions alike afford con- 
clusive testimony in certifying to the general co-opera- 
tive qualities of these peoples. 

With respect to agriculture. Prof. Geddes, Jr., states 
"that their influence can be felt in many garden sections 
cultivated in this country where they have made the 
rocky hills bloom as the rose." On this same point we 
quote in full the reply to our symposium of Prof. Lindley 
M. Keasbey formerly of the University of Pennsylvania 
and Bryn Mawr College, now editor of The Interna- 
tional : 

"European civilization is made up of two parts ; the 
Beer and Butter civilization of the North, and the Wine 
and Oil civilization of the South. The beer and butter 
people are made up of Nordics and Alpines ; and the 
wine and oil people are predominately of Mediterranean 
stock. 

"Our environmental conditions are such as to give 
rise to Beer and Butter and a Wine and Oil civiliza- 
tion in the United States. Except, however, for the 
Spanish and French, our Wine and Oil region has been 
occupied and developed for the most part by Anglo- 
Saxons and Teutons who are Beer and Butter people. 
As Nordics and Alpines they have done well in their 
strenuous ways. But when all is said they have not 
really adapted themselves to our wine and oil condi- 
tions, nor have they made of this Southern section what 
it is destined to be. 

"This I take is the chief contribution of Americans of 
Italian descent. They have gone into and are developing 
our Southern Sea Board States, and wherever they go 



214 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

they are continuing the good work begun by their Wine 
and Oil predecessors, the Spanish and the French. The 
Italians really understand the true characteristics ot 
Mediterranean civilization and are the very best of all 
the Wine and Oil people to realize the possibilities in 
the United States." 

Coming to their industrial position, their energy and 
initiative are apparent. In the wine industry the biggest 
merchants in California are of Italian stock. Nor are 
they confined to this. In 1909 the working population 
of Italian blood in the United States approximated 
1,200,000. Their condition* in industry is shown approx- 
imately as follows : 

Engaged in agriculture 80,000 

Engaged in mines of all sorts 100,000 

Working in industrial establishments of all sorts 500,000 
Working in building industries including rail- 
roads 520,000 

Living in centers of less than 100,000 popula- 
tion 200,000 

Living in centers of more than 100,000 popula- 
tion 1,000,000 

Of the total working population of Italian lineage in 
the United States approximately 800,000 or sixty-seven 
per cent were engaged in agriculture abroad, whereas in 
this country only 6.6 per cent are so engaged. These 
figures are eloquent testimony to the "industrial" place 
that the Italian holds in this nation's upbuilding. Scudder 
found that fully eighty-two per cent of this strain were 
industrially employed.** 

One who has lived among them and travelled thruout 
all their country says, "the Italian is a hard worker and a 
valuable element which is to our national character 
'molto simpatico.' He is honest, thrifty, industrious, 
and friendly. He has the high spirited temperament 
and gaiety that Northern nations so conspicuously lack. 

* Dr. Alberto Pecorini, "The Italian as an Agricultural La- 
borer." Annals of the American Academy of Political and 
Social Science, Vol. 38, 1909. 

** Scudder — "Suggestions on Methods of Work and the 
Course of Study for Italian Children." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 215 

We like him and we need him for our business. He 
has made our waste places "bloom as the rose."t 

Another aspect of their enterprises discloses this better 
than anything else. There are something like three 
thousand individual fruit selling enterprises conducted 
by Italian-speaking peoples in New York City. Fruit 
raising is the nature and form of their almost instinctive 
calling here. 

The greatly increasing number of professionally em- 
ployed Americans of Italian blood within the past two 
decades is one of the most gratifying phenomena to 
those desiring a speedy Americanization. Tv/enty years 
ago such individuals were so few that they could almost 
be counted on the fingers of one hand. In fact so few 
were they that many individuals are living to-day who 
can recall every professionally employed American of 
this type. To do this to-day, however, is impossible. 
They dot the Italian colonies and are rapidly branching 
out in sections where the inhabitants are not of an 
Italian complexion at all. 

Every "circolo" was questioned by the writer regard- 
ing the future vocation of the members and fully eighty 
per cent had definitely chosen a professional calling. 
Leadership and initiative, we are beginning to see, was 
but held in abeyance and awaited the first favorable op- 
portunity for expression. America has given this op- 
portunity freely. 

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL WORK- 
ERS REGARDING THEIR QUALITIES OF CO- 
OPERATION — To the superficial observer the dififerent 
customs and habits of Italians living in different streets 
may seem to show a lack of organization and an apparent 
disunity. Yet when one looks into the question more 
deeply than is discernable on the surface of things, one 
finds an extremely numerous variety of organizations, 
societies, clubs and associations, all bringing out the 
very social character of this type and the very ready 
way in which they enter into organization and adapt 
themselves to common tasks and community purposes. 

None are better fitted to testify on the subject than 

t Train, Arthur, 



216 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

"social workers." These individuals every day of their 
lives go into the homes, observing the American of 
Italian extraction minutely, and thereby get a true 
picture of the actual interests that grip him and for 
which he gives both his time and his money. Most 
expressive, and at the same time most picturesque, is the 
testimony of Dr. Peter Roberts who, when he asked 
if the Italians formed organizations and cooperated, was 
met with the response : "O Lord, their organizations are 
so many you can't count them." The Italian's love for 
companionship and "good times" is well-known. Dr. 
Jones' investigations led him to say on this point : "Their 
loud voices coupled with their highly emotional temper- 
ament gives ample ground for much simultaneity of 
action. Their emotions are too keen and too much awake 
to be limited to a family. Inevitably they act together." 
The Italian fraternal and benefit societies numbering 
hundreds show that any charge of disorganization or 
lack of cooperation must be untrue. 

Italians are overflowing with sympathy. They are 
quick to co-operate in helpful movements. They have 
a strong social instinct and unconsciously devote them- 
selves to the support of the socially good, and to the 
condemnation of the bad. In order to further the com- 
mon good they are willing to lay aside their own in- 
terests. 

It is not surprising to find that due to the social and 
friendly nature of the Italian-speaking American, his 
activities take a concerted volition of yet wider extent 
called forth by a sensational event or misfortune. It 
is the testimony of ambulance surgeons that they can 
scarcely reach their patients in an Italian district be- 
cause the neighbors have gathered about to offer aid 
and sympathy. 

Social workers who have spent considerable years in 
the slums of the immigrant and who are exceptionally 
qualified to speak of conditions pertaining to the Italian 
home, bring to the fore his cooperative qualities. Miss 
Claghorn thinks that it is his ability to get along with 
others that makes the Italian "more steady, sober, provi- 
dent and generally more reliable than his Irish prede- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 217 

cessors."* His is a spirit of friendly intercourse and 
of help given gladly. He is of a cheery and pleasant dis- 
position, and always of an optimsitic turn of mind. 

How well the offspring of this race are adapting them- 
selves to our American conditions is shown by the ready 
way and free and easy access they have into all strictly 
American enterprises. Even if some of them are willing 
to work at a lower standard of living, their keen sus- 
ceptibilities, their intellectual avidity and their almost 
universal commendable desire to co-operate and improve 
conditions impels these Americans to raise their stand- 
ard to the level of their new surroundings and generally 
level with those with whom they are co-operating once 
the American point of view is gained. 

A concrete instance refuting this charge of a "lack of 
cooperation and organizability" is shown in the illus- 
tration offered by Dr. Jones of the Italian lease-holders 
and store keepers. They may have scraped together 
$50 or $100 to begin with, but this sum is so large to 
them that they are not willing to run risks with it. In 
undertaking to sublet a house they have great confidence 
in the honesty of their people for each other. This is 
true of Italian store-keepers also. They venture into 
business when they perceive they can count on the co- 
operation of their own people. If the Italian is noted 
for anything it is his social and co-operative qualities, 
for they have flowing within their veins the blood of a 
"social" people. 

One must not mistake in believing that because Italian 
colonies are pointed out as the classic instance in show- 
ing what inorganizable material the Southeastern Euro- 
pean immigrants are, that the Italian nature is one that 
does not lend itself to team-work. To a keen observer 
it would appear that this apparent disorganization is but 
a passing feature of a period of upheaval and adjust- 
ment. With respect to the past certainly the evidence 
is all against this conclusion. Robert A. Woods, who has 
spent a life time among the Italian element of Boston 
in the North End says : 

"Three brilliant races are bringing forth a new brood. 

* "The Tenement House Problem," p. 86. 



218 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

The Irish for the first time are having a just opportunity 
to work out their destiny. The Jewish race has an im- 
memorial record as a prolific mother of genius. The 
Italian strain has historically outstripped all others twice 
— once politically, and once intellectually — the domin- 
ating power of the world."* 

With regard to the present their position in South 
America,** where conditions are more closely allied to 
what they left, shows their initiative. "The Italians 
have a monopoly of the corn farms, wine and wheat. 
These uneducated, poverty-stricken Italian peasants 
have built up a mighty work in a few years. An Italian 
has been President of a Republic ; the present Ministers 
of Education and of War are Italians. "f Every one is 
familiar with the initiative and industry displayed by 
the Italians on the abandoned farms of New England. 

TESTIMONY OF "POLITICAL LEADERS" RE- 
GARDING THEIR PLACE IN OUR AMERICAN 
DEMOCRACY— It was Huxley who said that "the Ita- 
lian brain was the finest textured in Europe." Yet 
whether the charges against the mental calibre of the 
Italian-speaking people are imaginary instead of real 
can be readily seen in the statement of Dr. Richmond 
Mayo-Smith formerly of Columbia, who says of them : 

"Ignorant, criminal, vicious, eating food that we would 
not give to dogs, their very stolidity and patience under 
such conditions show that they lack the faintest appre- 
ciation of what civilization means. "J 

Or compare also the statement of the economist Gen. 
Francis A. Walker: 

"These immigrants are beaten men from beaten races 
representing the worst failures in the struggle for exist- 
ence. . . . Europe is allowing its slums and its most 

* Woods, R. A. "Americans in Process," p. 374. 

** The best description of socio-economic conditions among 
Italians in South America that has yet appeared is to be found 
in Prof. Robert F. Foerster's recent book "The Italian Emigra- 
tion of our Times." 

t Bolton, King. "Italy To-day." 

t Mayo-Smith, Richmond. "Emigration and Immigration," 
p. 133. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 219 

stagnant reservoirs of degraded peasantry to be drained 
off upon our soil." 

It is such charges as these that make for a good deal 
of the misunderstanding and even prejudice that attaches 
to the descendants of the more recent immigrant stocks. 
Happily v^^ith time, these Americans are securing the 
opportunity to demonstrate how unfounded are such 
charges levelled against the Italian mind. Intellectual 
power is not absolutely but only relatively measurable 
yet even then the distinction is psychological not racial. 
Dr. Jacobs says : 

"The distinction seems to be more a matter of tem- 
perament and is much more modifiable by education and 
environment than by purely racial characteristics."* 

How well these Americans are adapting themselves 
to our American democracy is seen by the way they are 
universally received in the different parts of this country. 
New York has more citizens of Italian blood than any 
other State in the Union and in each colony the prevalent 
opinion is that they are a distinct asset. Lord quotes a 
statement of Mayor Mulvhill of Bridgeport who, reply- 
ing to the question "What does the Italian-speaking 
citizen bring to us?" said: 

"The Italians are a religious and law-abiding people 
and will compare favorably with an equal portion of 
American citizenry, whether native or adopted."** 

At the beginning it is true that fights, quarrels, stab- 
bings, etc., were frequent among the Italians, but this 
condition obtained for the immigrant and not for his 
offspring. The most eloquent picture recently drawn of 
this contrast is that of Jacob Riis, viz : 

"Mulberry Bend was the worst pig sty of all. I do 
not believe that there was a week in all the twenty years 
I had to do with the den as a police reporter in which I 
was not called to record there a stabbing or shooting 
affair or some other act of violence." 

To-day Mulberry Bend Park populated by the offspring 
of this previous criminal class presents in no way any 

* Journal of Anthropological Institute 1895. 
** Lord, Trenor and Barrows — "The Italian in America," 
p. 82 ff. 



220 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

great and marked differences from similar conditions in 
other tenement districts. As a matter of fact the writer 
who has spent five years as a social worker in this very- 
district believes that there are worse sections occupied 
by other nationalities. As the Chief Clerk in a city of 
25,000 Italian-speaking- citizens said: 

"There is no doubt that at the present time the stand- 
ard of Italian citizenship is of a higher grade than ever 
before, and what is true in this city is true for them 
throughout the country at large. To-day we find the 
Italians taking a prominent part in all the different vo- 
cations of life, in the professions as well as in business." 

Others, in a position to view the relationship of this 
type to our whole population point out the essential 
harmony of interests that exists between these peoples 
and others. Mayor Eisenmenger of Schenectady which 
has a dense Italian-speaking population believes that : 

"They are not disposed to jar with the other nation- 
alities and the Italian is rarely the aggressor in any such 
dispute. They appear to be uniformly anxious to urge 
the education of their children and one can't question 
their professional assimilation." 

Mayor Allen C. Forbes of Syracuse considers them : 

"To be exceptionally reliable and persistent in their 
work when they are given employment and that they 
constitute an essential part of the working community." 

There is no question among thinking men that like 
other Americans of other descents the Italian-speaking 
American has a contribution to make to American demo- 
cracy. How effective they will be depends in a great 
measure upon the way they are received in our midst. 
Far from being mental degenerates and deficient in quali- 
ties of leadership and initiative, the opposite is distinctly 
true. William Dean Howells always wondered that 
"They do not still rule the world when I see how intel- 
lectually fit they are to do it far beyond any other race. 
Individually they seem still equipped for their former 
ancient primacy." This may be and perhaps is over- 
drawn, but, nevertheless, in the Italian character there 
are as in all high strung natures the most surprising con- 
tradictions. "In private life there is no more dramatic 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 221 

nation than the Italian ; in public life there are no more 
ardent politicians than the Italians and their wonderful 
intelligence, dash and courage seem to promise national 
and concerted action on a grand scale. There is no 
reason to despair of Italy. Her nation as individuals is 
in many ways the most gifted in Europe."* An unbiased 
glance over what the actual accomplishments of this type 
have been will serve to effectively dismiss the charge 
that they would not, if allowed the normal amount or 
degree of opportunity and training, evidence reaction of 
a mental standard commensurate with that of other 
stock s 

THEORETIC FINDINGS OF GENETIC PSYCHO- 
LOGISTS — The marked change in the vocations of the 
younger generation as compared to the one gone before 
reflects differences that are due to different environ- 
ment, changed economic conditions and the higher Amer- 
ican standard of living — rather than that any marked 
change in the racial psychology of the two groups. If 
we can establish this identity of racial characteristics 
with respect to the individuals, not only representing the 
younger generations of Americans of Italian extraction, 
but with respect to the germinal mental potentialities of 
all peoples, it would do much towards proving how un- 
founded are many of the charges brought forth against 
this particular type. If to these theoretical findings of 
the scholars of the world are added the practical obser- 
vations and personal testimony of social economists and 
others who have spent a lifetime in studying this type, 
all refuting the specific charges that have so frequently 
been levelled against them, it may be logically assumed 
that in keeping with such findings the American of Ita- 
lian extraction is in no way different from many of the 
other stocks in America. What may exist is not so much 
a psychical as a sociological difference which is deter- 
mined by the wide divergence from the normal socio- 
economic scale representative of the typical Italian 
family. This is true because the germinal potentialities 
of all peoples of a superior culture are relatively uniform 
and where any mental and material disparity exists, one 

* Emil Reich — Foundations of Modern Europe, p. 174. 



222 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

is more apt to find the perverting factor not in the racial 
psychology involved but in the form of social organiza- 
tion that obtains. 

What has often set people awry in their conception of 
race differences has been the failure to distinguish prop- 
erly between inferior and superior races, and inferior and 
superior cultures. A superior people like the Chinese, 
for instance, may be living on a low level of cultvux, and 
their product if judged by a superficial observer, would 
make one believe the Chinese belong to an inferior stock. 
In like manner many of the alarmists in America, when 
immigration was at its highest several years ago, fearing 
that America was being overrun by a horde of inferior 
peoples, as the Southern Europeans were mistakenly 
supposed to be, expressed great fears for the older stand- 
ard of living when the ensuing inevitable social and 
ethnic contacts occurred. An instance of this character 
is afiforded in the quotation taken from the introduction 
to Madison Grant's book, "The Passing of a Great Race," 
and written by Henry Fairfield Osborn : 

"If I were asked: What is the greatest danger that 
threatens the American public today? I should certainly 
reply : The gradual dying out among our people of those 
hereditary traits through which the principles of our reli- 
gious, political, and social foundations were laid down 
and their insidious replacement by traits of a less noble 
character." 

Racial backwardness is not racial inferiority.* Racial 
backwardness most always can be explained by oppres- 
sion and lack of opportunity. This is so, at any rate, 
with the stocks that make up our "newer immigration"; 

*A word of caution that is not amiss is the following: exact 
measurement of race differences do not exist. As yet we 
cannot measure shades of emotion, depths of feeling, inten- 
sities of passion, strengths of instincts, etc. Perhaps we never 
shall. That sociologist is brave who would dare set up a 
standard for population increase or a law regarding the dis- 
tribution of the social income for instance. As Boodin so well 
puts it, "in the study of social variables certain cautions are 
perhaps necessary — social facts are seldom the result of one 
set of determinants, generally they are the result of a mul- 
tiplicity of causes." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 223 

unquestionably this is so with the ItaHan. John Dewey 
has effectively pointed out how futile it is to depend 
upon racial psychology for any explanation of cultural 
differences. He scouts the common notions that because 
the savage has no cultivated plants, no system of ap- 
pliances for tending and regulating plants and animals, 
does not anticipate the future by drying meat, has a 
miserable hut for his habitation, with no tools or equip- 
ment except what is actually in use, catches beasts, birds 
and fish with his hands — as constituting legitimate 
grounds for describing the "savage" mind in terms of 
"lack," "absence" and "incapacity." Dewey shows that 
all of these incapacities are part of a very positive psy- 
chosis which taken in itself and not merely measured 
against something else, requires and exhibits highly 
specialized skill. The savage's repugnance to what we 
term a higher plane of life is not due to stupidity or 
dullness or apathy, or to any other merely negative 
quality. His aversion is due to the fact that in a new 
occupation he does not have so clear or intense a sphere 
for the display of intellectual and practical skill.* 

The veteran psychologist. Dr. James Rowland Angeli 
attacks the problem squarely in this fashion : 

"We distinguish in our common thought and language 
between the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon mind. No doubt 
it would be a difficult task to determine just wherein 
consist the differences that underlie these popularly 
recognized distinctions." 

"We are accustomed to look upon these divergent 
traits as in some measure due to the exigencies of cli- 
mate and geographical habitat. That such influences 
have affected physical type not only as regards stature 
and color of skin but also as regards many other details 
of bodily structure is ordinarily accepted as an obvious 
fact." 

"It is difficult to say wherein the mind of the young 
German differs from that of the young Frenchman and 
both from that of the young American ; and yet some- 
where in their attitude toward social usage, in their con- 

* Dewey, John — "Interpretation of Savage Mind" Psycholo- 
gical Review 



224 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

ception of government, in their conception of good taste, 
they may be indefinitely far apart. How far these diver- 
gencies are matters of education, and how far they are 
innate is very difficult to determine. A man is the child 
of his time and race as truly as of his parents."* 

Such representative views as these make out a case 
pointing not to the germinal defections of any one race 
but to the way widely different opportunities can serve 
to affect the civilizatory status attained by any one race 
of individuals. 

ANTHRDPOLOGISTS— Likewise the anthropologists 
bear witness to this truth. The most uncompromising 
exponent of the "germinal equality" theory of race 
powers and the "maximum efficacy of environment" is 
Franz Boaz, Professor of Anthropology at Columbia 
University. Stated in a few words his theory is that his- 
torical events appear to have been much more potent in 
leading races to civilization than their faculty, and it 
follows that the achievements of races do not warrant 
us in assuming that one race is more gifted than the 
other.** He then goes on to sho whow important a part 
environment plays on the development of races. In 1909, 
as the Anthropologist for the Immigration Commission 
charged with the investigation of bodily changes among 
descendants of immigrants, he found after measuring 
thousands of head forms that even in so short a period as 
one generation the long-headed Sicilian became round- 
headed in New York City while the round-headed 
Hebrew became longheaded. While as he believed the 
approach to a uniform general type could not be estab- 
lished, nevertheless the changes were significant of the 
tremendous potency of the environment on the physical 
body. Now if so relatively immutable a thing as the 
human skull can be so radically transformed in the short 
period of time between the arrival of the immigrant and 
the birth of his children — how much more of a change 
must the newer environment effect upon the more plastic 
and formative parts of the human anatomy such as the 

* Angell, Jas. B. — Chapters in Modern Psychology, p. 231 
passim. 
** Boaz — "Mind of Primitive Man" p. 17. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 225 

brain? Such at least were the inferences drawn from 
the investigation ; but as Boaz himself stated : 

"Italian immigration was so recent that individuals 
who were born many years after the arrival of their 
parents in America are very few in number and no indi- 
viduals of the second generation have been observed. 
For this reason it is hardly possible to decide whether 
the cephalic index continues with the length of time 
elapsed between the immigration of the parent and the 
birth of the child." 

Nevertheless, he concludes that 

"The fundamental traits of mind which are closely 
correlated with the physical condition of the body and 
whose development continues very many years after 
physical growth has ceased, are the more subject to far- 
reaching changes."* 

Further anthropological evidence is furnished by Prof. 
Ellsworth Faris of the University of Iowa. His investi- 
gations with tribes of primitive peoples lead him to the 
conclusion that 

"Instead of the concept of different stages or degrees 
of mentality we find it easier to think of the human mind 
as being in its capacity about the same everywhere, the 
difference in culture to be explained in terms of the phys- 
ical geography or the stimuli from other groups or the 
unaccountable occurrences of great men."** 

SOCIOLOGISTS — The best quotation possible from 
the many sociologists who have frequently declared for 
the great place that environment and forms of social 
organization play in determining a people's cultural place 
is that by Geo. E. Howard in his recent presidential 
address before the American Sociological Society. He 
believes that 

"A fruitful cause of war is the false idea of race values. 
Every race deems itself superior and every race is mis- 
taken. Modern science repudiates the dogma of natur- 
ally superior races. It refuses to accept the color of the 

* Boaz — "Mind of Primitive Man" p. 40. 

** Faris, E. — "Mental Capacity of Savages" — Amerian Jour- 
nal of Sociology, March 1918, pp. 603-619. 



226 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

skin, the color of the hair, the slant of the eye, or the 
shape of the shin bone as a safe index. It is safe to say 
that among scholars competent to render an authorita- 
tive judgment the ancient doctrine that by nature some 
races are superior and others inferior has been rejected. 
Every argument advanced in its support has been tested 
and found wanting. Every year brings stronger support 
for the new doctrine of the potential equality of all races. 
Peoples differ in their planes of cultural development not 
in their inherent capacity for development. Races are 
low or high according to their rung on the ladder not 
according to their ability to climb. Under the eye of the 
expert the existing differences in mental and moral 
status between brown and yellow, black and white, 
oriental and occidental appears as resultants of variations 
in environment, institutions, experiences and opportu- 
nity."! 

Dr. Howard has with him many of the most prominent 
thinkers not only in America but on the Continent favor- 
ing this view. Even the latest accepted treatise in socio- 
logical theory accepts this viewpoint, viz : 

"The stifling conditions of our society may bring it to 
pass that large numbers are living below the social 
standards from reasons quite apart from natural capa- 
city. This is evidently the case with immigrants coming 
from countries of lower standards and often undergoing 
here exceptional economic and moral pressure."* 

Dr. A. J. Todd in his new book "Theories of Social 
Progress says : 

"Race is psychological. Is there such a thing as "na- 
tional mind" or "race psychology" unique and distinct? 
Those who claim there is, range in the intensity of their 
conviction all the way from belief in a literal social brain 
to mere predication of certain easily recognizable group 
qualities. To historical contingency or environmental 
agencies in the largest sense and not to innate faculty, we 

t Ideals as a Factor in the Future Control of International 
Society, Presidential Address of George E. Howard, Publica- 
tions of the American Sociological Society, Vol. 12, Social 
Control. 

* Cooley, Chas. H. — "Social Progress," p. 232. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 227 

must turn for the real causative factor in racial dif- 
ferences and variations in culture. Owing to the inter- 
nationalizing of human activities the concept of race is 
of diminishing importance." 

"If we are ready to grant as did the First Universal 
Races Congress in 1911 that environmental changes are 
the predominant forces in modifying group character the 
uncertainty about the future of inferior races is cleaned 
up. It becomes possible to forecast the progressive de- 
velopment of all primitive people if only the environment 
can be appropriately modified."* 

CONCLUSION — Professor Ross says in accounting 
for disparities between peoples, there are two opposite 
errors into which one may fall — one the "equality" fal- 
lacy as is set forth by the anthropological school, and the 
counter fallacy grown up since Darwin and represented 
best by Chamberlain in Germany and Grant in this coun- 
try which exaggerates the race factor and which regards 
the actual and existing diflPerences between men as here- 
ditary and fixed. 

There is a golden mean between these two extreme 
positions.** Applying this theory to the type here under 
investigation, we may safely say that while there per- 
force must be — considering the volume of immigrants 
— a certain modicum of unassimilable Italians who per- 
sist in maintaining their low standards of living in such 
extreme fashion as to imperil the vigor of the American 
nation, still the number falling within this class is so 
small as to be inconsequential and the fears that have 
been expressed on this score have been more imaginary 

* Proceedings of First Universal Races Congress, 1911. 
(Quoted from Todd's, Theories of Social Progress, p. 284.) 

** This position is best expressed by Bristol in his very able 
work, Social Adaptation, where he says, "evidence concerning 
the difiference in social instincts, keenness of sense perception 
and intellectual and emotional qualities. . . is so conflicting as 
to counsel moderation of statement rather than dogmatiza- 
tion. . . Differences in individuals are unquestioned but when 
the group is made the sociological unit the standard of ability 
no longer is individual, but social, and we have no sure word 
concerning the native ability of the average in any primitive 
groups now extant or that ever existed." p. 315. 



228 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

than real. On the other hand it must be said that these 
people have been condemned by such writers as have 
been quoted in a spirit that to begin with was un- 
American before such individuals had an opportunity to 
demonstrate whether they would synthetize or not. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 229 



CHAPTER XXIII 

A SOCIO-ETHNIC PROBLEM 
THE PROBLEM STATED — SYNTHETIZATION 

The task of democracy from the socio-ethnic stand- 
point is primarily synthetization rather than assimila- 
tion. These two latter ideas are different. Assimilation 
is the process of growing alike or a "process of growing 
resemblance"* and "is a mental and moral process."** 
It is different from amalgamation in the sociological 
sense which means "that homogeneity of blood deter- 
mined by marriage — or the tendency to form about 
certain norms crystallized by marriage"t and which is 
essentially a part of the process of synthetization. 

When we think of synthetization we think of some- 
thing not synonymous with the former. Synthetization 
means fusing in such a way as to have the product dif- 
ferent from any of its constituent parts — something 
higher and more refined, as in a chemical compound 
where as a result of the fusing of two constituents we 
get by the synthesis a compound that is neither one nor 
the other of the solubles that have entered into its com- 
position, but something more complex and entirely new 
and different. 

The ethnic task of our democracy has been eloquently 
described in a recent address by the present Secretary 
of the Interior.! In telling what Americanism was he 
went on to say "it is SYNTHETIZATION or the gather- 
ing together of different races, creeds, conditions, and 
aspirations and merging them into one." But this must 
not be thought of as patterning itself after a copy already 
existing. "There is no such thing as an American race 
excepting the Indian. WE ARE FASHIONING A NEW 

* F. H. Giddings, "Inductive Sociology," p. lOL 
** Lectures by F. H. Giddings at Columbia University, 1915 
t Lectures by F. H. Giddings at Columbia University, 1915. 
$ Address by Franklin Lane before the Educational Confer- 
ence at Washington (see National Geographic Magazine, April, 
1918, What is it to be an American? page 348.) 



230 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

PEOPLE." To realize this is important and the failure 
to do so is partially the reason why in defining Ameri- 
canism we have in the past secured such variegated 
answers. 

The difference in the two problems is subtle but fun- 
damental in sociology. It has been the basis for all the 
talk going on to-day of the necessity for bringing our 
immigrant peoples up to the standard of the cultures pre- 
valent among the older generations here. In effect this 
was to set up a type as already existing that represents 
the last word in things American. One got the impres- 
sion that the ultimate American could be seen walking 
on the streets. 

This attitude has had to make innumerable shifts. If 
one had lived in the days of the early Nationalists the 
discussion then centering on Americanism would have 
fastened upon a Franklin, a Jefferson or a Hamilton as 
the type of individual to which one had to conform ; 
coming on down a little nearer if one were living in the 
days of the Transcendentalists, this prototype might 
have been Emerson or if it had been in the days of Haw- 
thorne who wrote those charming stories of early settler 
life, he would have been declared the TRUE AMER- 
ICAN ; or even in our own day there are many people 
who looked to Theodore Roosevelt as exemplifying all 
those qualities and virtues of patriotism, of citizenship, 
of self-sacrifice, of the public first, that set him up as 
the criterion.* 

The mistake these people make is in hastily assuming 
that the American is a static or non-progressive type in 
whom we hope, at least, all the good points of our past 
immigrants are incorporated and retained, and all the 
bad points submerged or strained out. In fact they fail 
to grasp the fundamental sociological importance of the 
problem in showing that they believe our chief task is to 
assimilate — and not to synthesize.** In the main what 

* See Newton D. Baker "National Ideals," The Survey, Nov. 
25, 1916, p. 187-189. 

** Compare such statements as "the native American has 
always found in the black man willing followers who ask only 
to obey the wishes of the master race without trying to inject 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 231 

is attempted here is to sound a note of caution against 
being led into undue fears and un-American action by 
the alarmists who would have us restrict our annual 
population influx by carte-blanche legislation. As a 
matter of fact it is almost certain that the continental 
nations will of their own accord restrict the number of 
departures for the first few years at any rate following 
the termination of war and the signing of a peace treaty. 

Only recently indeed do We see signs of a recognition 
of this "synthetizing" importance of our racial groups. 
The Carnegie Foundation has set itself the task of ascer- 
taining what Americanism is. Among other things it is 
attempting a survey of Methods of Americanization. One 
of its important divisions is devoted to ascertaining 
what the influences are that the Italian strain exerts 
upon our American democracy. In its summary of the 
purposes of the survey the Carnegie Corporation ex- 
plains : 

"Americanization is the uniting of new with native- 

into the body politic their own views whether racial, religious 
or social." Grant — The Passing of a Great Race, p. 78. 

"The native American of the 19th century was rapidly be- 
coming a distinct type." p. 79 Ibid. 

"The new immigration contained an increasing number of 
the weak, broken, and mentally crippled of all the races drawn 
from the lowest stratum of the Mediterranean basin and the 
Balkans together with the hordes of the wretched submerged 
populations of the Polish ghettoes." p. 80 Ibid. 

"It is no insult to the immigrant to say that he constitutes 
one of the perils of Americanism. How can it be otherwise? 
Assume that he is a law-abiding citizen, that he knows nothing 
of the conspiracies which have imperilled our safety, that he 
does not propose to cast his vote in the interests of the foreign 
power and that the field of hyphenated citizenship has no exis- 
tence for him. For all these boons we are grateful. How far 
does he understand the responsibilities he assumes with the 
franchise? How far does he realize that he has become part of 
the state? How far can we depend upon him in our hour of 
need?" Agnes Repplier, Atlantic Monthly, March 1915— What 
is an American? 

Miss Repplier's fears are answered by the fact that "There 
are 175,000 aliens fighting with the American forces abroad, 
75,000 of whom as yet have not taken out their first papers. 
This leaves out of account the many thousands with the colors 
in this country." Americanization — The Evening Post — August 
9, 1919. 



232 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

born Americans in fuller common understanding and ap- 
preciation, to secure by means of self-government the 
highest welfare of all. Such Americanization should per- 
petuate no unchangeable political, domestic and economic 
regime delivered once for all to the fathers but a grow- 
ing and inclusive National life, inclusive of the best 
wherever found. With all our rich heritages, American- 
ism will develop best thru a mutual giving and taking 
of contributions from both newer and older Americans 
in the interest of the common weal."* 

This is one of the very few instances we have that 
frankly accepts the synthetizing aspects of our socio- 
ethnic life and does not subordinate it to the orthodox 
"assimilation" concept which would have it that the 
later comer has first of all to become Americanized, in 
the sense of being patterned after already existing types. 

* Statement by Allan T. Burns, Director, New York Times, 
Sunday, February 2, 1919. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 233 



CHAPTER XXIV 

DOES THIS TYPE OF AMERICAN CONTRIBUTE TO 
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY? 

Comparative observations allow one to conclude that 
there are many valuable traits and qualities being added 
to the store of assets that America has already gained 
thru her immigrants, and also by this newer acquisition 
of the Italian group. 

This is readily discernible because in all the manifesta- 
tions of both his vocational and his recreational life this 
American of Italian lineage is easily amalgamated. Not 
only in the "art sense" does he make a most valuable 
contribution because it is one of the qualities that we 
most conspicuously lack, but as Miss Brandt continues to 
say "grace, courtesy, ambition are characteristics of 
Italian children in America. The first two qualities are 
an inheritance that has come down to them thru three 
centuries ; the third is developed or at least given a 
chance for expression by American conditions."* 

He is not a "persona non grata." A review of his 
institutions shows that given proper social, educational 
and moral stimulation this American will respond in 
ways that show him to be constructively creative. We 
see in his schemes for betterment both with respect to 
his own type and his ideas concerning those outside this 
group that he is both fertile and facile in imitation. Un- 
deniable evidences are numerous that he is intellectual 
and can become deliberative and rational. Given early 
in life a proper sense of direction and immunity from the 
vicious influences of the slums which cause him to evolve 
a bastard notion of personal libeitv, we see that he does 
become a peaceful and law-abiding American. 

Proof of all this is easily forthcoming when we find 
that the institutions of adult Italians offer no attraction 
to him and hold no place in his life. The Italian hos- 

* Lillian Brandt — A Transplanted Birthright — Charities 
1904, Vol. 12, p. 494. 



234 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

pitals, Italian newspapers, banks, books, clubs are all 
shunned by the younger generation. 

Nor does the younger generation retain the language, 
customs, ways of thinking, ways of doing of the adult 
immigrant. Frequently this line of cleavage between 
the two when drawn too sharp makes for much irrita- 
tion and friction and consequently unhappiness. And in 
all this the youngster certainly is not to blame. His crime 
is that he has become Americanized too fast. He is re- 
sponding almost completely to American institutions, 
good and bad alike. 

Examining his voluntary institutions and his co- 
operative efforts, we see in them the complete saturation 
of the mode of living and ways of thinking of the 
American of Italian extraction with Americanism and 
American culture. 

Where no concrete evidence exists covering specific 
fields of organization and initiative that are grounded in 
race, as likely as not such a lack is due to the fact that 
the proficient American of Italian extraction has entered 
so fully into the spirit of American life and custom that 
no evidence of this sort can exist. He has become 
completely absorbed. To recreate an organization for 
some specific purpose on the basis of a common Italian 
ancestry would be to resurrect anew the Italian indivi- 
duality and a pseudo-Americanism would be the result. 
An absence of an organization need not betray a lack of 
co-operation and organized effort or lack of initiative ; 
it may well be indicative of the fact that those Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction that are proficient and capable 
are responding one hundred per cent to stimuli dis- 
tinctively American and have been completely absorbed 
into American life. 

The fact that so frequently we meet with the desire of 
such Americans of Italian extraction to change their 
names is an evidence of this subordination of things 
Italian and the elevation of Americanism to a primary 
place. Their general reticence in the acknowledgement 
of their "Italianity" affords added proof of this shifting 
value of ancestral traits and racial appendages. 

A close observation of the personal habits of hundreds 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 235 

of Americans of Italian extraction will serve to cor- 
roborate all of the above. Few of them read the Italian 
newspapers ; no one puts money in the numerous Italian 
banking agencies scattered thruout the colony ; they do 
not join the mutual benefit and fraternal orders of which 
among Italians an overwhelming superfluity always 
exists ; their grasp of the Italian language itself is 
slender and not overstrong, in many cases almost nil ; 
Italian customs, attendance on religious rites pertaining 
to festive occasions are absolutely ignored, etc., etc. 
Haynes has expressed himself on this aspect as follows: 

"None brought this fact (the adoption of American 
ways) more strongly to my mind than the instances of 
the marriage spoken of in the description of an evening 
spent with the Italians. In their reasonable discussion 
of the useless cost of showy marriages, the changed atti- 
tude towards various kinds of work — and especially 
noticeable is their friendly attitude towards other races, 
and nationalities. It is impossible to discuss all the many 
little acts which clearly show the way these young Ita- 
lians have taken up the manner of life here."* 

With this unfortunately goes most of the sacred herit- 
age of Italy that Italian immigrants have to offer. Pro- 
fligate America has done little to conserve the heritage 
of the immigrants she has invited to her shores. This 
however we hope will soon be stopped. The Carnegie 
Foundation is taking steps to put clearly before the public 
eye the genuine danger and actual losses sustained by 
this too rapid absorption of first generation of Amer- 
icans, and the consequent loss of the heritage of their 
ancestors. 

The introduction of so large a mass of Italians will 
benefit America in many ways. Mingling with mem- 
bers of diflferent races, each polishes the gold and refines 
the dross of the other. The natural quality of the stocks 
is raised and improved thereby, the biological product 
being revitalized and recreated. This is of inestimable 
importance. 

Again the enhanced industrial development of the 
country, that inevitably follows from the introduction of 

* Haynes, Bryce — "Some Italian Types of Mind," p. 81. 



236 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

so valuable a "working" and "workable" unit is incal- 
culable. Immeasurable again, is the effect on trade, 
commerce and business generally. 

It is worth while then for America on account of the 
invaluable character of the raw human product involved, 
to take careful and complete steps requisite to its most 
economic preservation. At the same time this large 
Italian group must be given direction and afforded 
leadership if it is to be advantageously used. This is the 
note sounded by Douglas, who says 

"In summarizing we shall state some of the general 
characteristics of the Italian as we have found him. 
Looseness of organization, general lack of leadership, 
and small continuity of effort and of determination are 
his worse traits. But he is sang^'ine in temperament, not 
easily discouraged, courteous and affable in disposition 
and generally moderate i.i all desires. He is plastic and 
acceptable and with proper training his worse faults 
could be overcome. His potentiali'ies are larjre but will 
probably be dormant unless native Americans step into 
the breach that opportunity has opened."* 

♦Douglas, David W. — "The Influence of the Southern Italian 
on American Society," p. 41. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 237 



OHAPTER XXV 

SYMPOSIUM ON WHAT THE AMERICAN OF ITALIAN 

EXTRACTION SPECIFICALLY CONTRIBUTES 

TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

WHAT DOES THE AMERICAN OF ITALIAN EX- 
TRACTION GAIN THROUGH HIS CONTACT WITH 
OUR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?— The writer decided 
to gather for himself concrete ideas regarding the posi- 
tion of the American of Italian extraction in our Ameri- 
can life. Much that was written before was of a vague 
and general character. The symposium which follows 
contains the specific data in answer to a specific ques- 
tion from individuals who know this type of American. In 
this way it was thought that by gathering concrete facts 
rather than vague and general ideas, a truer conception 
of the position that these Americans hold may be placed 
before the entire American public. To this end 1000 of 
the accompanying questionnaire on the following page 
were mailed to individuals particularly fitted to judge. 

It was decided to ask the American of Italian extrac- 
tion not what he himself contributed, for manifestly 
personal bias could not be altogether eliminated — but on 
the contrary, to ascertain what he gained. As a result 
of this, we are apt to have a truer picture of what 
America is really doing, not only for these people but for 
all its first generation of Americans. Taking the facts 
pointing out his "gains" and placing alongside these 
the knowledge we have of what the American of Italian 
extraction contributes, we are able to see at a glance the 
t\vo opposite aspects of the "give and take" relation 
going on in America with respect to Americans of Italian 
origin. 

As manifestly the American of Italian extraction is 
the best judge of the gains that are effected, we can be 
assured that as a nation, America is doing all of her part 
and doing it well, for the statements gathered show 
numerous gains ; and these are gains that run through 
the entire gamut of all possible channels of development. 



238 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

80 Washington Place 

New York City, New York 
Dear Sir : 

I am engaged in collecting data relative to the "Socio- 
logical Status of Americans of Italian extraction in New 
York City" which is to take printed form very soon. 

I am interested in getting up a symposium of the facts 
concerning this type of American from people who know 
them. The idea of the symposium is to contrast the way 
different types of individuals look at the problem of the 
synthetization of America's composite racial stock— from 
the standpoint of one of these stocks i.e. the Italian. 

For this purpose it will help materially if you will be 
kind enough to answer only the question checked in blue 
pencil below. 

1. — What does the American of Italian extraction gain 
most thru his contact with our American democracy? 
(to be answered only by Americans of Italian extraction) 

2. — What does the American of Italian extraction lose 
thru his contact with our American democracy? (Amer- 
ican life, institutions, customs, etc.) 

(to be answered only by Italians in New York City) 

3. — What is the chief contribution that the American 
of Italian extraction makes to our American democracy? 
(to be answered only by Americans of other descents 
than Italian) 

Note A. — Democracy in this study of which this sym- 
posium forms only a part is defined as "that form of 
social organization in which every man has a fair chance 
to develop himself and knows that he has that chance." 

Note B. — If possible please confine your answer to one 
sentence and be specific. 

Note C. — The ans'wer can be written on the back of 
this sheet. 

Note D. — If the identity of the contributor is not to 
be disclosed please indicate this in the reply. 

Thanking you in advance for your co-operation, I am 
Very truly yours, 

JOHN H. MARIANO, 

Assistant Director, 
Community Service and Research, 
Division of Public Affairs, 
New York University. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 239 

The majority of the replies received agree in stating 
that the greatest gain to these people thru their contact 
with our institutions and other objective indices of 
American Democracy is not "economic" opportunity as 
some might suppose but political opportunity as evi- 
denced thru greater personal freedom and liberty. Great 
difficulty however was experienced in knowing just what 
was the greatest gain in the mind of the individual con- 
tributor — there were so many. Some who have at- 
tempted to list the specific items are Rev. Antonio Man- 
gano, author of "Sons of Italy" who realizing that jus- 
tice cannot be done to the question in one brief state- 
ment sums up his views in the admirably full statement 
that 

"American Democracy very radically changes the en- 
tire life and character of the children of Italian extrac- 
tion reared in this country. Unconsciously these indivi- 
duals are being moulded on American soil and in an 
American background. The whole process of their 
thinking, their way of looking at life is so different from 
that of their parent. Whether this modification on their 
life is favorable to American life depends upon the in- 
fluence which enters into their moulding. Italian char- 
acter is plastic and easily conforms to its surroundings. 
I mention a few things he gains : 

1. — The spirit of fair play and justice. 

2. — Straightforwardness and honest dealing. 

3. — Open-mindedness — appreciation of truth. 

4. — Trust and confidence in his fellow-man. 

5. — The knowledge that work is honorable however 
humble. 

6. — Interest in fellow-man in a large way. 

Dr. Vincent Giliberti lists the following items : 

1. — Enthusiasm to achieve great things. 

2. — Independence of thought and action. 

3. — Love of freedom (not license) and justice. 

4. — Social consciousness developed to a high degree. 

5. — The feeling of equality. 

6. — Submission to the majesty of the law. 

Dr. Antonio Pisani, former member of the Board of 
Education, which position gave him a unique opportunity 



240 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

to observe the progress these Americans are making, 
says : — 

1. — Education. 

2. — Free speech. 

3. — A higher standard of living. 

This is identical with the belief of the Principal of th» 
Italian School, Mrs. Louisa Deferrari Weygandt 

1. — Educational advantages. 

2. — Economic opportunity. 

Paul F. Frabbito who has had a great deal of expe- 
rience in instructing this type and himself is a graduate 
of an American university lists the following: 

1. — New freedom of action and of thought. 

2. — Liberty, Equality and Fraternity persistently ap- 
plied. 

3. — Widening of his socio-centric interests. 

N.B. — Each enthusiast has his own hobby and would 
put his own pet interest first, i.e. philosophy, economics, 
sociology, social worker, etc., so it is difficult to settle 
the 'most' question. 

The way the leaders of the growing "college" genera- 
tion look at this question is typically represented by the 
views immediately following. Louise F. Bruno, former 
President of the Hunter College Circolo Italiano feels 
that 

"The American of Italian extraction has gained two 
things thru contact with American Democracy: (1) he 
has learned to become progressive, (2) and to become 
democratic. He has lost all class prejudice so prevalent 
in parts of Europe and especially in Italy." 

Vincent Anello, President of II Circolo Italiano, Co- 
lumbia University believes that 

"What the American of Italian extraction gains most 
is the idea of being on an equal footing with his fellow- 
man; but tho our form of social organization is one in 
which every man has a fair chance to develop himself, 
the average American of Italian extraction is hindered 
in his development because of economic conditions at 
home, the one above the average however developing 
himself unchecked and according to his ability ; thus to 
the former the idea of democracy appears only as an 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 241 

illusion while to the latter it appears and actually is a 
reality. 

The President of the Barnard Circolo Italiano, Irma 
Liccione believes that 

"Equal opportunity for everything possible only in a 
democracy is the gain." 

A former President of the Columbia University Cir- 
colo, Wm. N. Barbarito, believes that these gains are 

1. — Fear of Government is driven away and joy in par- 
ticipation of government is instilled. 

2. — Education is brought to the doors of any and all 
who want it thru public schools, public libraries, public 
institutions, etc. 

3. — Religion becomes a choice with the individual. 

4. — Greater freedom of expression in the home not 
only in thought but in action. 

The President of the Board of Education in San Fran- 
cisco, A. A. D'Ancona thinks that, 

"The most important thing gained is a gain that is 
common to people of all races — namely the recognition 
that people of different ancestry and of different creeds 
can live together amicably and in mutual respect." 

Assemblyman Chas. Novello of New York City states 
that 

"Whatever the individual does is recognized and 
American Democracy gives him a fair chance and rea- 
sonable opportunity." 

To the President of the Italian Lawyers' Association. 
Gerard J. Cuoco, the chief gain is 

"An awakening to the fact that people can govern 
themselves." 

Four of the educators prominent in the life of the 
Italian colony look at this gain in the following way : 
Angelo Patri, Principal of public school number 45, 
Bronx, holds, 

"That one begins to feel that he counts as an indivi- 
dual. American democracy brings him out of his reserve, 
his humility. America does for him what it does for all 
— brings about a respect for races, of people, especially 
an appreciation of common peoples. It gives him faith 
in himself and in his children." 



242 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

To Principal Anthony J. Pugliese of public school 
number 21 on Mott and Elizabeth Streets, the chief gain 
is, 

"A breadth of vision for the future." 

Prof. Vittorio Racca says it means an appreciation 

"Of a government of the people, for the people and by 
the people." 

Dr. James P. Croce of the Fordham Medical College 
states this gain to be, 

"A sense of true independence which is not construed 
as licentiousness." 

Three well known doctors whose lives have been spent 
working among these peoples also replied affirmatively. 
Instance Dr. Savini, director of the Washington Square 
Hospital, calling the gain one of 

"Self reliance and initiative." 

Dr. Atonna President of the Italian Medical Society 
lists the gains as 

"1. — Social development. 
2. — Education. 
3. — Economic. 
4. — Political. 
5.— Moral. 

Dr. Tomasullo says the gain is that represented in 

"Coming in contact with a real democracy." 

General statements pointing to an all-around gain are 
those of Dr. A. Palmieri, of the Library of Congress, 
Washington, D. C. 

"A fuller consciousness of his social and industrial 
rights ; a more active spirit of personal initiative, a deeper 
feeling of religious, political and social tolerance, the 
conscious or unconscious desire of contributing to the 
welfare and progress of mankind." 

Roswell Arrighi, Superintendent of one of the largest 
Italian Sunday Schools of this city, the Broome Street 
Tabernacle feels : 

"A strong and decided development of one's self based 
upon independence of thought and action. A growing 
self-respect and an increasing appreciation for the bene- 
ficent institutions made possible by our great demo- 
cracy." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 243 

Frank P. Btionora, formerly chairman of the Italian 
section of the Brooklyn division of the government's 
"War Stamps Savings Sales" says the gain is 

"Independence and self reliance ; realization of the 
powers of the individual; the acquiring of a better stand- 
ard of living; the loss of prejudice against any race and 
the development of a cosmopolitan character. The 
American of Italian extraction becomes interested and 
learns to develop and understand duty towards and love 
for American institutions and the laws of the country." 

The question is bluntly answered by Rocco Fanelli 
who states that he is familiar with only one democracy 
and that that is the American democracy and to it he 
owes 

"Everything I have in education, in economic advan- 
tages, and ideals." 

Luigi Criscuolo, the financial writer for the Indepen- 
dent who has an exceptional grip on Italian affairs writes 
at length, viz: 

"This will depend entirely upon the point of view. We 
have in the United States Italians of different social 
stations. Some are reduced men and women of gentle 
birth and good education who lacked opportunities in 
Italy, whose estates were mortgaged and who came 
here to earn enough money to pay their debts. Some 
are artisans or professional men who after coming here 
make a distinct success in life. Some are peasants who 
are more or less illiterate and who have no ideals or 
traditions to look back upon and therefore have the world 
before them. Let us assume that none of these classes 
know English, -i 

"Those gentlemen of reduced circumstances will often 
do menial labor rather than engage in trade. Their exe- 
cutive ability, however, soon makes them stand above 
their fellow workers ; as soon as they learn the language 
they show that they can be useful to their employers 
because of the natural respect they inspire in their 
fellow-workers who do not speak pure Italian. The 
result is that such men advance, and eventually become 
owners of establishments. Instead of returning to Italy 
to live on their lands, they become infused with the 



244 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

American spirit of enterprise, they begin to love the 
ideals of a purely democratic country, and soon become 
American citizens. By hard work under adverse circum- 
stances they acquire a competence and while they do 
not lose touch with their fatherland they become to all in- 
tents and purposes good citizens and take an intelligent 
interest in all political questions of the day, both local 
and national. 

"There is very little comparison between the class 
just described and the professional man but a wider dis- 
tance between them and the artisan class. The artisan 
may be a skilled mechanic or a barber. He is more apt 
to learn English in a shorter time than the professional 
man altho his English will be distinctly American, with 
an East Side twang if he be a New Yorker. His chil- 
dren are sent to American schools and become thorough 
Americans. While they learn more about Italy and its 
past glories at school than they learned at home, per- 
haps more than their parents ever knew, they regard 
that as incidental. 

"In fact I have known children of artisans who almost 
regretted their Italian birth because of the ridicule put 
upon them by children of other parentage, and have 
claimed to be French or Spanish rather than Italian. 
However, as the children began to learn something about 
Italian history and as the lower class of Americans began 
to likewise appreciate Italy's place in world history, the 
ridicule to^vards Italians began to disappear. This is 
particularly so since the beginning of the war which 
has demonstrated that Italy can do wonders in the field 
and in industry as well as in art. His children soon be- 
come instilled with Americanism and soon win high 
honors in school and colleges and are ripe for public 
life. 

"The children of the peasants have a hard lot. They 
are brought up in a life of squalor ; their parents never 
knew what standards of cleanliness were ; their poverty 
prevented them from having what we consider very com- 
monplace comforts. Brought to the United States they 
are sent to school because it is compulsory and while 
usually they are left in school until they are 14 or 15 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 245 

years of age, they impress the school teacher with their 
unusual brightness and willingness to learn. Teachers 
have told me that the brightest pupils they had were of 
Italian birth, particularly the children of day-laborers. 
This is accounted for by the fact that after a century of 
illiteracy the brain of the peasant child is ripe for 
absorption of knowledge. Hence, some of our brightest 
Italo-Americans come of blood which has been absolutely 
peasant for centuries. These boys and girls gain the 
most because from a life of squalor and poverty they 
raise themselves to relatively eminent positions. The 
public school connection and contact with American chil- 
dren make them imitate the manners and dress of these 
children and they bring into their own homes of squalor 
and poverty the customs and naturally clear ideas of the 
American children. Sometimes bad influences tend to 
make delinquents and as they grow older other influences 
make ward heelers and disreputable politicians out oi 
them, but that is an exception. 

*T have great hopes for the American of Italian birth 
and extraction. Those boys who follow the ideals of such 
men as Garibaldi, Mazzini, Washington, and Lincoln can- 
not go wrong. Those boys who disdain small ward poli- 
tics and strive to get ahead by honesty and integrity have 
a great future. The Italian is naturally idealistic and 
patriotic. This is proven by the response of the young 
men and women to the appeals made in the Liberty Loan 
campaigns. AVANTI !" 

The last to be quoted in this connection is a brief but 
pithy statement of the well-known lawyer Joseph P. 
Barbieri, who puts the "gain" to be a 

" 'Self-determination' or in other words the American 
of Italian extraction gains what everybody else gains, 
the knowledge that he has the opportunity to develop 
his latent ability; that it is up to him to make of himself 
all which he is capable and that our American democracy 
not only gives him the opportunity but actually lends 
him a hand." 

Many others equally emphatic as these are omitted 
for lack of space. 

WHAT DOES THE AMERICAN OF ITALIAN EX- 



246 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

TRACTION LOSE THRU HIS CONTACT WITH 
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY— In answering- question 
number 2 it was extremely difficult to get the high per- 
centage of replies that obtained with the other two ques- 
tions for various reasons. The chief reason perhaps was 
that of language. In a number of cases the recipient 
could not be sure that he had read aright the question- 
naire and so, rather than to make a mistake, he failed to 
reply. On the other hand some ground undoubtedly 
existed for the fact that fewer could express on "paper" 
a "loss" that might be quite inexpressible or even tan- 
gible but that nevertheless was real. Possibly again, 
misunderstandings that might arise thru stating a ne- 
gative reply may have deterred a few. 

The attitudes taken by contributors towards this ques- 
tion fall sharply along two main lines — one side hold- 
ing that the "losses" far outstrip anything that is gained; 
the other the diametrically opposite position and believ- 
ing that the "losses" are nil. Together with these two 
extremes are views representing all possible shadings in 
between. 

The one reply that I have called "neutral" and which 
was the only one of its kind received in answer to this 
question is that of Dr. Eduardo San Giovanni who had a 
long and intensive training in Italy and secured his doc- 
torate at the University of Naples. Professor San Gio- 
vanni held that 

"Gains and losses are individual phenomena and if not 
individual at least are circumscribed by regional and 
social factors. "Gains" or "losses" on the part of a Cala- 
brian excavator cannot have anything in common with 
the budget of a Venetian musician who has likewise 
been absorbed by the American stream." 

This view however can largely be discounted as it is 
beside the point. What we are observing here is neither 
a Calabrian excavator nor a Venetian musician but an 
"American of Italian extraction" who has either been 
born here or who has come here when very young. As 
such it deliberately excludes the adult Italian immigrant, 
whether musician or excavator, who is as a rule so 
thoroly ingrained with the culture of the homeland that 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 247 

he is neither himself affected in any great way by his 
contacts with our institutions nor contributes creatively 
to our American democracy. 

At once representative of the view mentioned earlier, 
dealing fully and very intelligently indeed with the 
question of the "losses" sustained is the contribution 
in Italian by the Rev. Rafaele Fenili, a product of a 
double civilization, a graduate of St. Anthony's College 
in Rome and of Columbia University and at present an 
ordained minister of the Methodist Church, viz: 

"To your question — What does the American of Italian 
extraction lose thru his contact with our American demo- 
cracy — I answer 

He loses : 

1. — ^In the formation of character. Drawing from two 
sources of a different nature, that is, the traditions and 
the education of his family and the American schooling 
and ways of living, his personality does not assert itself 
very strongly and forcefully. Receiving at once a hetero- 
geneous and homogeneous element he is neither simply 
Italian nor purely American. 

2. — In family ties. The influence of the American 
schools can be seen on the mind of the child in the em- 
phasis that is placed on the American language, customs, 
and ways of living. It is indeed common to hear that 
children are ashamed of their parents, often designating 
them as "dagoes," ignorant and old-fashioned people. 
Even the respect that should exist in the relation of 
son to father is very often loose if not lost altogether. 

3. — In sentiments. The "do ut des" is the fundamental 
law of his life; and the supreme aspiration of the neo- 
American is only "sacra auri fames." Those feelings of 
sympathy, of altruism that so distinguish Italians are 
simply in the stage of larvae in the neo-American. 

4. — In religion. If the Roman Catholic Church is 
considered the only true religion, he lives in an atmos- 
phere of Catholicism, Protestantism and Hebrewism ; in 
the schools and in the factories the contact with these 
two last is inevitable, therefore, he forms a religion, 
"sui generis," and of Catholicism he retains only the 
superstitions. 



248 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

5. — In morals. American freedom which in many in- 
dividuals degenerates into license or "libertinage" ; the 
corruption to be found in large cities ; indecent moving 
pictures and the ease with which he finds gay company 
among the weaker sex naturally do not form in the neo- 
American qualities of a saint. 

It goes without saying that these losses are more or 
less accentuated in neo-Americans according to circum- 
stances and to the opportunities of which they have 
made use." 

Along the same line is the contribution of another Pro- 
testant clergyman, the Rev. F. J, Panetta, viz: 

"The matter is too complex to be answered in one 
sentence but the chief "losses" to be regretted are 

1. — That they do not come into contact with real 
Americans by whom they have been ostracized for well 
known reasons. 

2. — They lose almost entirely the idealism which is 
one of the most beautiful characteristics of the Latin 
race, thinking of nothing else but the almighty dollar. 

3. — It is to be regretted also that a gulf exists to 
separate the children from the parents due chiefly to our 
present system of education and the opposition as im- 
parted to the children which some stupid teachers have 
for anything that sounds Italian." 

The very well-known Doctor Rocco Brindisi of Boston 
says : 

"The American of Italian extraction by his contact 
with American democracy is partly deprived of his hered- 
itary esthetic sense and love of home life. He besides 
becomes somewhat unmannerly and too often undis- 
ciplined towards his parents." 

The Provincial of the Salesian Order, Rev. E. Coppo 
believes that 

"The loss is that of love and reverence for family and 
parent." 

Professor Mantellini of 68 West 68th Street says : 

"My observations lead me to know that the American 
of Italian extraction loses the love for the country of his 
ancestors, the poetical and idealistic sentiments charac- 
teristic of the Italian people and the great and real 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 249 

appreciation of a race that has had such a glorious past 
as the Italians." 

Dr. Francesco Ettari of City College feels that it is 
this same loss, namely 

"Sense of respect." 

Rev. C. R. Simboli, a graduate of Columbia University, 
says 

"That in the commingling of the Italian with American 
democracy the Italian in the ceaseless struggle for eco- 
nomic improvement gradually loses his distinctive artistic 
sense, spontaneity and plasticity as well as that warmth 
of social intercourse inherent in the Latin race." 

Joseph Francolini, president of the Italian Savings 
Bank, the largest bank of its kind among Italians of 
this city, also believes in widespread losses and lists them 
in the following order 

"1.— Morality. 
2. — Respect. 

3. — Supervision by the parent. 
4. — Respect for authority. 
5.— The habit of thrift." 

Finally a clear exposition is that of R. Fanciulli, editor 
of the International Bureau of the New York Evening 
Post, viz : 

"The most conspicuous loss to the American of Italian 
extraction would seem to be that of prestige — a thing 
seldom accorded him in any greater measure than the 
prestige commanded by Italians as a class. 

"The cause for this may be partly attributed to a 
characteristic modesty, peculiarly Italian which, delight- 
ful as it may be to those who understand it, is never- 
theless not generally understood in America and has un- 
questionably been a hindrance to the fuller assimilation 
of Italians in the more influential circles of political and 
commercial life — the plane accorded them not being 
equal to that accorded those of Irish, Jewish and pre- 
viously German extraction." 

Jumping to the other extreme or to the position taken 
by those who feel that the "losses" are nil, we have the 
attitude taken by F. Mancini, editor of II Resveglio of 
Denver, Colorado, who writes in Italian in full : 



250 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

"He loses that childishness of character which ren- 
ders him a slave in a monarchy. He forgets etiquette 
which ties every Italian to his superior in authority either 
in business or in official life or by virtue of birth dif- 
ferences and he becomes accustomed to manners com- 
pletely liberal which in daily life unite every American 
citizen from the President down. 

"Speaking of the majority of the Italian immigrants 
to the United States, composed of what are known as 
the simple "contadini" from the mountains of the Alps 
or those of the Appennines, and the simple workmen in 
various establishments and factories and offices, what 
happens is that they, upon coming in contact with the 
American people, lose that ignorance in which they were 
surrounded upon birth — they slowly conform to our 
institutions. They remain free and honest and learn 
step by step the new ways of American life. So that 
taking to our commercial and industrial life they acquire 
stronger convictions, they forget prejudices and probably 
free themselves from a certain character of religious 
fanaticism and domination which was ingrafted upon 
them at birth and not a few become the highest type of 
American citizen. This result or transformation could 
not have been possible in their native land." 

Of a like tenor is the statement of Dr. DeLiguori of 
Yonkers : 

"A man of education loses nothing, he can lose only 
the stupid habit of trusting a monarchy and monarchs, 
the only and real obstacles to the natural progress of 
civilized society. One who is ignorant may be led to 
believe that liberty is license and in this way lose a right 
understanding of the liberty that is his for the first time 
in this country." 

Also Professor Panarone of City College : 

"The American of Italian extraction may sometime in 
working-class families lose that respect and submission 
to parental authority characteristic of Italian family 
life. The change is due to the greater educational pro- 
gress of the children." 

To Professor Sergio of the Sergio School of Languages 
it is a question whether the change is a loss. Anyway 
there is gone 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 251 

"That inclination to dream which smothers in almost 
every Italian heart making him more practical and there- 
fore more apt to succeed in the modern social strife." 

Cavalier Benefico believes 

'That the American of Italian extraction has absolutely 
nothing to lose because there is a gradual mingling of 
the influences of two civilizations in his life and he profits 
from them both." 

The editor of the "Gazetta del Massachusetts" J. V. 
Donnaruma says 

"The American of Italian extraction when in contact 
with American democracy gradually loses that spirit 
which all over Europe divides the nations into different 
and unequal social classes. Our American democracy is 
one social class." 

Pasquale Galassi, member of the Massachusetts Bureau 
of Immigration has studied this question very carefully 
for a number of years and says : 

"Because Italy is the cradle of 'Freedom' and the 
'Rights of Man,' the Italian is essentially a democratic 
individual. 

"Because the United States has been founded on the 
highest ideals of Freedom and Democracy, the American 
is the best example of these ideals. 

"The American citizen of Italian extraction, there- 
fore, loses nothing of the essentials of democratic 
citizenry when coming in contact with American ideals, 
customs, and institutions. 

"Perhaps the one thing he gets rid of very quickly and 
that to his great advantage, is the reticence to take part 
in public affairs which reticence is due to the effect of 
centuries of foreign domination and oppression of the 
larger part of Italy previous to 1870." 

As a fitting conclusion to this section we may quote 
the contribution of Dr. Felice Ferrero. brother of the 
gifted historian and formerly Director of the Italian 
Bureau of Information. Dr. Ferrero is one of the best 
equipped men in the Italian-speaking colony to speak 
upon this subject because of his having an exceptional 
grip on both cultures. He says : 

"Whether a person of Italian extraction loses or gains 



252 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

thru his contact with American democracy depends 
mostly upon the spirit with which he comes to this coun- 
try and also, although much less, on circumstances. 

"When I left Italy to settle here, I came with an 
entirely open mind and with no prejudices of any kind, 
although I was inclined to admire greatly all that was 
Anglo-Saxon or more or less directly connected with 
Anglo-Saxon civilization. Consequently I took up with 
enthusiasm whatever appeared to me in American life 
as being better than in Italian life, still retaining what I 
considered most valuable from my early education, and 
now I find that, thanks to the contact with the American 
world, my personality, if I may say so without offending 
modesty, is certainly more complete than it would have 
been otherwise ; my understanding of the world is 
broader and my enjoyment of life more thorough. 

"In this estimate of the things of America, do not 
enter considerations of success or lack of success in the 
material pursuits of everyday life which I think ought to 
have nothing to do with your question," 

WHAT THE AMERICAN OF ITALIAN EXTRAC- 
TION CONTRIBUTES TO OUR AMERICAN DEMO- 
CRACY — Of course it is impossible to publish the views 
of all the contributors to the symposium. In this third 
section in answer to the question "What does the Ameri- 
can of Italian extraction contribute to American Demo- 
cracy" we have a varied view of the way this new 
infusion of Italian blood is moulding or at least influenc- 
ing American life. Most of the contributors agree that 
this influence is diverse in character. Nevertheless it is 
generally held that such contributions fall along certain 
well defined channels. The views which we print in full 
here are of the most importance. Only a few state- 
ments can be included and only such as are indicative of 
a fairly general trend of opinion. 

The vast majority of replies stated that some valuable 
contribution was being added by the introduction of 
these people into our midst. The reply of Maryal Knox, 
headworker of the "Little Italy House" of Brooklyn was 
alone in stating that 

"There have been too few Americans of Italian ex- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 253 

traction and they have been here too short a time to 
have had any influence upon American Democracy." 

Dr. Robert H. Lowie, of the American Museum of 
National History, has no doubt 

"That Americans of Italian extraction are able to make 
a notable contribution to our American Democracy but 
regret my little knowledge and experience which pre- 
vents my making a more specific reply." 

Prof. David Snedden, of Columbia University, gave 
almost the same identical answer: 

"Feeling sure that strong healthy Italians of good 
character make just as good citizens as strong and 
healthy immigrants from other countries. It may be 
that Italians also make a particular contribution but this 
is a point about which I am not certain at the present 
time." 

These were the only two answers received in which 
the contributor stated that while they felt that some- 
thing was being contributed they were unable to localize 
the contribution about anv one specific thing. 

In addition, three replies were received which I have 
called "negative reactions" i. e., contributions to the 
eflfect that instead of this type of American making a 
contribution that is a "positive" gain, the chief item that 
the questionnaire called to the mind of the person reply- 
ing was something "negative" viz, — the view of George 
Trumbull Ladd of Yale University is 

"The industrious and valuable class of Italians who 
have settled in Connecticut are making (1) excel- 
lent market gardeners and small farmers, (2) and 
stone cutters and stone masons. The lower order 
are acting as navvies on the railroads and public streets. 
A few are distinguishing themselves in professions but 
only a few and some are in the smaller local bands and 
orchestras. I regret to say that crimes of violence are 
more numerous than among other classes of citizens, — 
usually arising in quarrels over women and gambling 
debts." 

Mr. C. M. Knight, Secretary of the Young Men's In- 
stitute branch of the Y. M. C. A. which has a membership 
of over fifty per cent of Americans of Italian extraction 
says. 



254 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

"I have only recently come to New York City and have 
no very firm conviction regarding the Italian. To me 
the one characteristic that stands out is that of childish- 
ness. They seem to lack in judgment, perseverance, and 
unselfishness, therefore, it occurs to me that any con- 
tribution which they might make to our democracy 
would be in the lower strata. They are laborers and 
some are breaking into business and still fewer in the 
professions. 

"The above is brutally frank but they are simply some 
untested and preliminary ideas which have forced them- 
selves upon me." 

The third and last reply of a similar strain is that 
from Mgr. Chidwick, formerly Chaplain of the sunken 
battleship Maine and now head of St. Joseph's Seminary 
in Yonkers : 

"I must say that I have not had suf^cient experience 
to answer with authority. There are qualities we hope 
to see infused into our American character by the Italian, 
his artistic temperament, his affectionate nature, his 
seriousness and industry are known. I must confess 
that I would prefer to see him with a lesser desire for 
money and destruction but this quality well regulated 
brings about thrift and power which will be well used." 

All other correspondents believe that the American of 
Italian extraction makes some or many valuable con- 
tributions. One of the most important contributions 
that they have already made is that of labor. 

Alison Dodd, the capitalist, puts it briefly thus: 

"Physical strength." 

Walter T. Diack of the International Y. M. C. A. Com- 
mittee makes it out to be, 

"Labor and Music." 

The Superintendent of the Labor Bureau, William H. 
Meara, believes labor to be his most important contribu- 
tion, saying 

"We find that they rapidly become good citizens and 
that labor is their best hold on the consideration of the 
American public. All Italians display a marked desire 
to become American citizens. Our public schools take 
good care of their children." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 255 

William Roscoe Thayer of Cambridge, Mass., states 
that he is rather at a loss how to answer because his 
relations with Italians of all sorts has been uniformly- 
pleasant, 

"The chief contribution by Italians in the United States 
has been, I think, a "manovrali." Our subways, or 
travels, our roads, our great expansion in concrete 
works, have been largely due to them. They are inde- 
fatigible, patient and amenable laborers. I regret that 
even now they are in some places exploited by avaricious 
contractors and padroni. My advice to them always is 
to learn English and to become real Americans as quickly 
as possible, for in no other way can they protect them- 
selves from exploitation. Moreover it will be hence- 
forth indispensable that foreigners who come to this 
country to live shall be Americanized. A double alle- 
giance cannot be tolerated. 

"From 1840 to 1870 the foreign Italians who came 
over were more or less educated and they brought us 
music, but in this generation, I think that the laborers 
are Italy's chief representatives in her immigrants to us. 
We owe them much." 

Norman Hapgood says 

"Industry so far; inspiration I hope hereafter." 

Rev. M. Angelo Dougherty of Cambridge, Vice Chan- 
cellor of the Catholic University of America puts it this 
way: 

"They have given us much brawn taking the place of 
the immigrant of years ago and they have also con- 
tributed a good deal to art — much to plastic art." 

Lawson H. Brown, formerly Secretary of the East 
Harlem Y. M. C. A. believes this contribution to be 

"Hard Labor." 

Not a few believe that rather than "labor" the chief 
characteristic of this type is the contribution they have 
to make towards a lightsomeness of character, of joy in 
living and an optimistic way of looking at life. Repre- 
sentative statements are those of M. P. Adams, Superin- 
tendent of the Mooseheart National Vocational Institute 
who sums this all up in the one word, 

"Buovancv." 



256 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Likewise Lawson Purdy, the tax expert of New York 
City who calls it, 

"Cheerfulness." 

Prof. C. H. Grandgent of Harvard makes it out to be a 
lesson to older Americans for them 

"To appreciate the pleasure that everyday life affords." 

B. M. Anderson, Jr., of Harvard University says, 

"He brings a joyous attitude towards life, a spontaneity 
in living, which is a genial corrective of the rigors of the 
Puritan conscience constituted by New England." 

A figure exceptionally prominent in the civic life of 
New York but whose identity may not be disclosed says, 

"I incline to think that the chief contribution of the 
American of Italian extraction makes to American demo- 
cracy is the "smiling face" — that is — Cheerfulness and 
willingness to enjoy life and make the best of it. But 
there are other contributions." 

The most generally accepted contribution that this 
type of American makes is that of "frugality," thrift and 
industriousness." That these traits belong peculiarly to 
the Italian is attested to by fully eighteen per cent (the 
highest of any) of the total replies received. Instance 
in this connection the reply of the ex-Governor of New 
Jersey, Walter E. Edge, 

"The chief contribution that the American of Italian 
extraction makes to our American Democracy is Thrift. 
The persistency with (which the average Italian coming 
to this country applies energy to the task of making a 
living or doing a business in a new and strange environ- 
ment constitutes a valuable lesson in Thrift and eco- 
nomy." 

The statement of Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia 
University is similar, namely 

"That men of this type are distinguished for their 
thrift and energy." 

P. P. Claxton, Commissioner of Education holds that, 

"The most important contribution the American of 
Italian origin makes to our American Democracy is a 
habit and spirit of industry and thrift and self-depen- 
dence." 

Judge Robert H. Roy attests to the fact that for many 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 257 

years both official and private professional duties had 
brought him in daily contact with a great many Ameri- 
cans of Italian origin or extraction and that, 

"I have been impressed with their industry, their thrift 
and their honesty in the discharge of domestic and finan- 
cial obligations. It seems to me that these are the es- 
sential qualities which they have contributed to our 
American life and the value of these qualities cannot be 
overestimated." 

Senator Jas. E. Martine of New Jersey writes 

"His sturdy industry, perseverance and loyalty. To my 
mind these are the most marked characteristics of the 
race." 

Edward R. Cass, Acting Secretary of the Prison Asso- 
ciation of New York is 

"Much impressed with the American of Italian ex- 
traction's industriousness and thrift but can not lose 
sight of the problem that so many of the growing Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction present, principally due to 
their becoming Americanized sooner than their parents, 
which often results in lack of control by the old folks." 

Geo. W. Loft, Chairman of the Mayor's Committee on 
National Defense who employs thousands of this type 
calls him a 

"Good American citizen, very painstaking and a first 
class workman." 

Joseph E. Brown, Principal of public school number 
44 sees this spirit manifested chiefly in, 

"Engaging in small independent business enterprises." 

William Dean Howells writes that it is his 

"Eager and unfailing industry and politeness until 
they too imagine that politeness is un-American." 

Robert Fulton Cutting calls it an 

"Ambition to succeed industrially and a capacity for 
acquiring knowledge." 

The President of the Borough of Brooklyn, Hon. 
Edward Riegelman, is of the opinion that 

"The greatest contribution to our American Demo- 
cracy made by the American of Italian extraction, is his 
habit of thrift." 



258 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

The same is the view of the clergyman and economist, 
John A. Ryan, who however adds 

"Art." 

Finally Geo. T. Dimock, President of the Standard 
Aero Works Company, Elizabeth, N. J., who employs 
thousands of these people says, 

"The American of Italian extraction seems to know 
that he cannot get something for nothing in America 
or what is the same thing that those things which he got 
without giving a fair return to society are of no worth. 
The term 'honest graft' has no meaning for Italians and 
the political sinecures are not filled from their ranks. 
The Italian ideas of industry and thrift are valuable in 
outweighing the idea common among some groups of 
peoples that America is the land of easy money and that 
the most successful man in America is he who makes the 
easiest money." 

A few contributors settled on the well recognized close 
family ties within the Italian home and state this to be 
the chief feature that appeals to their minds. Among 
these was Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, viz : 

"If I were to state in a sentence the impression which 
has been made upon me by the Italian and their influence 
upon American democracy, I should say that the paternal 
relations between the Italian and family are worthy of 
emulation by American fathers." 

Judge A. B. David of Elizabeth, N. J. also quotes a 
similar view saying it is 

"His devotion to family and thrift and frugality." 

The "Art" or the "Esthetic" contribution has many 
advocates, and is the one specific contribution that has 
been mentioned most, excepting that of "Thrift." Mon- 
roe Smith of Columbia University says, 

"The chief contribution it seems to me, is Esthetic; 
the feeling for art in the broadest sense, including parti- 
cularly the good manners which are the print of civili- 
zation and which are essential to the harmony of social 
life." 

Likewise Miss Hook, headworker of the well known 
Richmond Hill House calls their contribution 

"A natural instinct for Art." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 259 

The well known social worker R. N. Brace of the 
Children's Aid Society says 

"It seems to me that the Italian American must add a 
great deal to the artistic development of oiir country." 

Prof. Fred A. Bushee, author of "Ethnic Factors in 
the Population of Boston" adds to this sense of art, 

"An intelligent use of leisure." 

J. Eugene Whitney, Secretary of the Peoples Uni- 
versity Extension Society, believes that 

"The chief contribution of our Italian-American is to 
add an artistic element to our American democracy 
which tends to give even common workmen an artistic 
satisfaction in doing the best work possible." 

Many more contributions stating the wonderful cul- 
tural appreciation that this element brings to us could 
be listed if space afforded. Unfortunately this is not 
possible ; we cannot afford however to close this section 
without inserting several others that are exceptionally 
well stated, viz : Dr. Edward N. Clopper, Acting Secre- 
tary of the National Labor Committee says, 

"The Italian element in our country contributes to 
making our life more colorful and ourselves more appre- 
ciative of artistic things. The Italian's natural love for 
good music, painting, sculpture, his appreciation and love 
of life and color counteract in a large measure the 
sombre Puritanism of the Anglo-Saxon, and thereby 
make our way of living more interesting and attractive." 

Dr. John B. Andrews, Secretary of the American Asso- 
ciation for Labor Legislature feels 

"The chief contribution of the American of Italian 
extraction to our American democracy to be the inspira- 
tion of his very keen native zest for fullest emotional 
life as it expresses itself in art and music." 

Likewise C. J. Atkinson, Executive Secretary of the 
Boy's Club Federation calls it 

"An artistic temperament and persevering industry." 

Prof. Ernest H. Wilkins of the University of Chicago 
and recently head of the Y. M. C. A. war work in Italy 
says, 

"The chief contribution that Americans of Italian ex- 
traction can make to our American democracy is to 



260 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

impress upon the American public the value of Italian 
culture. This can be done in two ways : by seeing that 
young- men and young women of Italian origin are en- 
rolled in our educational institutions and elect courses 
in the language, literature, and art of Italy; honor the 
Italian name through devotion in public service that 
other Americans may be convinced that the tree that 
sends forth such branches is a noble tree." 

I. W. Howerth, author of "America in Ferment," 
states that 

"The esthetic interest and appreciation of this life, 
only partially realized at present owing to a lack of 
recognition on the part of other Americans of other des- 
cents, are the best qualities of the Italian people." 

Prof. C. H. Cooley of the University of Michigan hopes 
that 

"The enrichment of the art spirit and the art produc- 
tion in our democracy will prove to be the distinctive 
contribution (certainly not the only one) of the Italian- 
American." 

From the "political" or "governmental" angle there 
are many who attest to the high place that these people 
take in this particular field. Witness Dr. A. H. McKinney 
who says 

"The chief contribution which the American of Italian 
extraction makes to American democracy is an intense 
love of liberty for himself and others, for fwhich he is 
willing to toil and struggle but which must be wisely 
directed lest it degenerate into disregard for the rights 
of others." 

State Senator Loring M. Black, Jr., says, 

"Americans of Italian extraction have contributed a 
rugged, unfaltering and exemplary faith in government 
in America regardless of their partisan and political 
makeup. They make the one group that has not been 
bodily conscripted into anv of the political parties and all 
parties now realize that the Italian vote is not a certain 
vote but must be won. The American woman of Italian 
extraction has given our womanhood a splendid example 
— the propagation of man." 

George Gordon Battle believes 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 261 

"The American of Italian extraction is sincerely demo- 
cratic (using the word in its broad and not in its narrow 
political sense) in his sympathies and aspirations. He 
is intensely individualistic and is a strong advocate of 
personal freedom. He resents political domination and 
as soon as he becomes acquainted with our language and 
our institutions his tendency is to be independent in his 
political action. There has been an inclination to lay 
less stress upon his material progress as he becomes 
more prosperous and his mind turns to public matters 
and he takes more interest." 

It has been asserted many times in writings about the 
Italian that a chief distinguishing trait is his marvelous 
adaptability, his wonderful sense of fitting-in -with things 
and people at the right and appropriate time. Italian 
versatility is often made much of. For this view there 
are adherents. Miss Ada Beasley asked by LiUian 
Wald to report on the contribution of the American of 
Italian extraction says that 

"His beautiful children and his extreme adaptability 
stand out." 

William J. Hogson, Physical Director of the Y. M. C. 
A. at Poughkeepsie and for many years associated with 
this type says that it is this quality of adaptability that 
makes it possible for him 

"To, while breaking away from the clannishness of the 
home, establish himself in our American life without 
loss." 

Hastings H. Hart of the Russell Sage Foundation 
says he has been greatly interested in the city of White 
Plains where he lives, 

"To see the wonderful adaptability of our Italian citi- 
zens to American ideas and to see the remarkable im- 
provement in the economic condition and education and 
intelligence of the second generation." 

John A. Shedd of 5 West 42nd Street, has had a re- 
markably long experience with Americans of Italian 
extraction and believes 

"The best contribution to our American democracy 
made by Americans of Italian extraction is their rapid 
mastery of the English language and their adoption of 



262 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

many American customs in their democratic develop- 
ment." 

Lastly Thos. W. Lamont eloquently puts this adapt- 
able trait of this people as follows : 

"I would say that one of the chief contributions made 
by Americans of Italian extraction to our American 
democracy is the aptitude with which they blend the in- 
dividualism that is possible only in a democracy with the 
spirit of nationalism. 

"Italian ancestors of Americans brought this spirit to 
America many generations ago, for I believe it was the 
cry of Biagia Nardi in the early thirties of the last cen- 
tury, "Italy is one, the Italian nation, one sole nation" 
that found its echo in the song of George Pope Morris : 
'The watchword recall 
Which gave the Republic her station, 
United we stand, divided we fall. 
It made and preserved us a nation.' " 

Dr. P. E. Groszmann, Secretary for the National Asso- 
ciation for the Study of Education of Exceptional Chil- 
dren, writes at length viz : 

"I have seen that thousands of poor Italian immigrants 
have developed an independence of spirit which in con- 
nection with their deep sentimental temperament has 
lifted them from the low plane upon which they had 
been living in their Fatherland, upon a much higher 
level and has made them ardent members of this demo- 
cratic community, at least those who chose to become 
American citizens instead of returning with their sav- 
ings to Italy. 

"The Italian banker, the Italian merchant, the Italian 
artist have become valuable assets in the development of 
this country. The wonderful genius of the Italian people 
freed as it is here from the undemocratic conditions and 
the traditions of oppression which are characteristic of 
most European nations, will be a tremendous factor in 
the evolution of this American nation. And it is my 
sincere hope that the present war will so favorably react 
upon Italian home conditions that a Bella Italia of which 
I have many most inspiring memories will be a freer 
and a happier country when all is over." 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 263 

The very complimentary remarks of the Director and 
Editor of the National Geographic Society, Gilbert Gros- 
venor, are that 

"The Italian who becomes our fellow citizen contri- 
butes to our stock unfailing enthusiasm for the beautiful 
in human nature, imagination to visualize and faith to 
achieve the impossible and adds to this tenacious grip 
of democratic ideas, qualities that are essential if a re- 
public is to continue strong amid prosperity." 

C. L. Brownson, Dean of the College of the City of 
New York, where many Americans of Italian extraction 
of this city go, says that in his judgment 

"The chief contribution is the quality of devotion to 
democratic ideals represented by such adjectives as 
whole-hearted, ardent, fervent, enthusiastic." 

Some very noteworthy statements were received rela- 
tive to the idealism of Italian nature. His extremely 
ardent and overwhelming spontaneity and exuberance in 
all things was to some contributors fertile soil for 
achievements that are to be accredited only to him 
whose entire soul is wrapped up in whatever undertaking 
he has to do. The best one of this strain is that by H. 
H. Wheaton, Chief of the Division of Immigrant Educa- 
tion who says, 

"That the chief contribution that the American of 
Italian extraction makes to our American democracy is 
quick sympathy for what he understands to be right and 
quick anger for what he understands to be wrong. In 
brief — highly sensitive responsivenes to moral issues." 

In a very simple \vay E. B. S states this to be 

"A fine ideaHsm for which they are all willing to work 
hard." 

John A. Sleicher, Editor of Leslie's Weekly calls it 

"A sincere and constant devotion to America's highest 
ideals." 

Henry W. Thurston of the New York School of Philan- 
thropy believes that their contributions are, 

"Their loyalty to friends, to family, and to America 
plus idealism." 

Almost six out of every ten who replied chose to fasten 
on several rather than on one specific thing as being 



264 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

indicative of what the American of Italian extraction 
contributed. Moreover so many stated it was difficult to 
put these specific contributions down in a few words as 
was requested, or even in one sentence for that matter. 
Some of the best statements listing more than one trait 
are those given by Robert A. Woods of East End, Bos- 
ton, viz: 

"Industry, thrift, skill, loyalty, gaiety." 

Graham Taylor of Chicago Commons : 

"Strong family ties, industrial habits, love of music 
and art, responsiveness to American spirit and oppor- 
tunity, good fellowship with other races." 

Lieut.-Col. Geo. B. McClellan, ex-Mayor of New York 
City, states : 

"His industry, his frugality, and his thrift, his cheer- 
fulness, his straightforward simple nature, his courage 
and his devotion to the land of his adoption makes the 
American of Italian extraction one of the most valuable 
national assets." 

William L. Ettinger, Superintendent of New York 
City's public schools writes that 

"The American of Italian extraction brings into our 
life the qualities of industry, frugality, and sobriety. He 
gives an example of closely knit family life whose mem- 
bers are devoted to each other by strong ties of mutual 
affection and dependence. His fine feeling for music, 
painting and the plastic arts contributes to our life these 
sensitive characteristics of the Italian race." 

The poet Robert Underwood Johnson believes his con- 
tribution to be 

"Industry, good workmanship, and friendly manners." 

Arthur W. Towne, Superintendent of the Brooklyn 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children be- 
lieves that 

"They are adding elements of sociability, esthetic 
appreciation and industry and demonstrating that there 
are rewards for those who have ambition, character and 
ability." 

A fine statement is that of the Assistant Secretary of 
the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian 
Relief, Mr. H. C. Jacquith: 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 265 

"Because the average Italian-American is keen and 
eager to avail himself of every opportunity for educa- 
tion and to use his every stepping stone for advancement 
he has taught other Americans a greater appreciation of 
democratic institutions and I believe has stimulated the 
general attendance of evening schools, libraries, and 
other outstanding democratic institutions. 

"The Italian-American has made a real contribution 
towards a more adequate appreciation of things artistic. 
Architecture, painting, music, and what are called the 
plastic arts, have not onlv been stimulated bv the Italian 
but the general American public has today an increasing 
appreciation of these neglected phases of American life 
and the impetus in this direction has come I believe 
largely through the Italian element in our racial life." 

Jeffrey R. Brackett, Director of the School of Social 
Service, Boston, says that 

"He inclines to feel that the Italian love of beauty 
expressed in art and music and the cheerfulness of 
Italians ought to be a distinct help in American life." 

So another Director of a Social Economy School, Geo. 
B. Mangold of the University of Missouri says: 

"The chief contribution that the American of Italian 
extraction makes to our American democracy is to 
demonstrate the value of industriousness and thrift, and 
to inculcate the ideals represented by these qualities to 
some extent into our national life. He is helping to bring 
democracy out of the clouds and setting it on solid 
ground. The sociability of the man of Italian descent 
is also an important contribution since the ultimate suc- 
cess of a democracy depends partly upon the habit of 
developing friendly contacts." 

George S. Davis, President of Hunter College, where 
most of the American girls of Italian extraction living 
in New York City go for their collegiate training says : 

"From my association with Americans of Italian ex- 
traction I have formed the opinion that they possess a 
certain political and social poise which contributes 
greatly to the stability and the orderly development of 
our institutions." 

Prof. Oscar Kuhns of Wesleyan University writes that 



266 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

"The American of Italian extraction is hard working 
and industrious. No one ever saw a lazy Italian. He is 
above all the railroad builder of the world. Then again 
Italy is the home of art in the highest sense of the word: 
the greatest artists, sculptors and architects have been 
Italians. Not only in these men of genius has the 
artistic instinct existed but we find it today among 
Italians of all classes. In this respect they give much to 
America by cultivating the appreciation of the various 
forms of art which adds so much to the intellectual life 
of a country. 

"Finally he adds to our democracy by his unbounded 
enthusiasm and patriotism. In the present crisis no class 
of our citizens has responded more nobly to the call of 
their country." 

Wm. E. Davenport, Headworker of the Italian Settle- 
ment in Brooklyn who has had contact with people of 
Italian blood in Italy as well as here says : 

"That the thrift and skilled industry of Italian ex- 
traction and their tendency to maintain a high quality of 
workmanship through an inborn artistic feeling is one 
characteristic contribution that they contribute to Amer- 
ican life. Vigor of family life illustrative of unimpaired 
nervous endowment and essential moral stamina is an- 
other." 

A very unusual way of looking at the question is 
shown in the lengthy contribution written by Prof. 
Lindley M. Keasbey, now Editor of "The International" 
who says : 

"European civilization is made up of two parts : The 
Beer and Butter civilization of the North and the Wine 
and Oil civilization of the South. The Beer and Butter 
people are made up of Nordics and Alpines, the Wines 
and Oil people are predominate of Mediterranean stock, 
stock. 

"Our environment and conditions are such as to give 
rise to Beer and Butter and a Wine and Oil civilization 
in the United States. Except, however, for the Spanish 
and the French our wine and oil region has been occupied 
and developed for the most part by Anglo-Saxons and 
Teutons who are Beer and Butter people. As Nordics 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 267 

and Alpines they have done well in their strenuous ways. 
But when all is said they have never really adapted 
themselves to our Wine and Oil conditions, nor have they 
made of this southern section what it is destined to be. 

"This, I take it, is the chief contribution of Americans 
of Italian descent. They have gone into and are develop- 
ing our Southern sea-board states and wherever they go 
they are continuing the good work begun by their Wine 
and Oil predecessors, the Spanish and the French. The 
Italians really understand the true characteristics of 
Mediterranean civilization and are the very best of all 
the Wine and Oil people to realize its possibilities in the 
United States. May the Gulf and the Caribbean sec- 
tions, which constitute our American Mediterranean, 
receive them as they should and allow them to play their 
part in this country as they already have in such great 
measure abroad." 

Howard R. Knight, Superintendent of Playgrounds 
for Locust Valley, L. I. says he contributes 

"A remarkable capacity for intense loyalty, an excep- 
tionally fine appreciation for artistic values, and an un- 
usual willingness to work in order to accomplish the goal 
he sets for himself." 

Will Irvin of the Bureau of Public Information lists 
the contributions in the following order: 

"His industry. 
His sense of the art of living. 
His intellectuality." 

Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard University says : 
"I have looked upon the Italian immigrant to the United 
States as one of the most valuable foreign elements from 
their large population and their untiring industry. They 
bring highly skilled trades approaching and often reach- 
ing the point of industrial arts. They bring a passionate 
interest in the welfare of their children. Many of the 
Italians readily seek citizenship and tie themselves with 
this country permanently." 

Almost identical is the statement by President Emeri- 
tus Chas. W. Eliot of Harvard University, viz: 

"He contributes a good deal of hard, faithful labor ; 
he often proves himself a skillful and industrial trader 
and distributor. 



268 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

"His wife bears more children and takes wiser care 
of daughters than the average American wife. 

"He is a real lover of liberty, although he has had 
little experience with political liberty unless he came 
from Piedmont." 

Mr. Lewis Butcher, Superintendent of the Newsboys' 
Lodging House, who has observed thousands of this type 
says : 

"He is convinced by careful observation that this is 
one of the best types that is in our midst — a type that 
assimilates readily, falls into line with American ways, 
customs and institutions, and speedily becomes successful 
in the professions or businesses they enter. They are 
law-abiding, dependable and forward-looking citizens. 

"I have noticed that he has a very keen sense of justice 
and is easily aroused when he feels he is being imposed 
upon. Innumerable illustrations I have in mind have 
demonstrated the ardor, tenacity and indefatigable 
energy and determination which is characteristic of the 
entire Italian population. 

"Again the Italian-American has made a great contri- 
bution to America through his inherent appreciation of 
the higher arts like music, the drama, sculpture, paint- 
ing, architecture, etc. I have observed a wonderful illus- 
tration of this in the children of the Italian School of 
the Children's Aid Society. Their entertainments and 
public presentations are artistic and the Italian tempera- 
ment is given full play in its relation to music, drama- 
tics, public address and handicraft. When the Italian 
children sing, they sing with an enthusiasm that is con- 
tagious ; when they speak they bring to view that force 
and sentiment which is the very embodiment of energy 
and life. 

"When handicrafts such as sewing, knitting, and 
kindred work are considered, the specimens show origin- 
ality and imagination. The Italian-American is a credit 
to his forbears in Italy and rapidly develops into an 
American of a clean, patriotic and worthy type." 

Heloise Durant Rose, Founder of the Dante League 
of America says: 

"The family affection, thrift, and artistic appreciation 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 269 

of the Americans of Italian extraction must ever be 
valuable contributions to our American democracy." 

Prof. Robert F. Foerster of Harvard University be- 
lieves that 

"Into the world of practical affairs he brings his vigi- 
lant sense of economy; into the ideal world he brings a 
perception of beauty that should prove of lasting value 
in moulding our tastes." 

Prof. A. J. Todd, Professor of Sociology, and Director 
of the School for Social Economy at the University of 
Minnesota states that 

"My observation of Americans of Italian extraction is 
that he contributes thrift, a willingness to work, a sense 
of art and joy in living to our American democracy. 
Having lived for a considerable time in the Italian quar- 
ter of San Francisco I can also testify that they make 
excellent neighbors." 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman lists : 

"A cheerful and competent industry. 
High scientific, mechanical and artistic ability. 
A contented and home loving spirit." 

John Collier says : 

"He contributes to our civilization and therefore to 
our democracy that HELLENIC element which Matthew 
Arnold contrasts with the HEBRAIC element. Not 
merely beauty and idealism and a tendency towards en- 
couraging fullness of life but an intellectual realism 
whose activity is predicated on this esthetic view of life. 

N. B.— In the social synthesis HELLENISM AND 
HEBRAISM are complimentary tendencies and they are 
not to be found monopolized in pure form by any one 
group." 

The very full reply of Dr. C. A. Prosser, Director of 
the Federal Bureau for Vocational Education is given at 
length because of the years of contact that Dr. Prosser 
has had with Americans of Italian blood, viz : 

"I was closely associated with Italian teachers and 
Italian children in New York City for some three or 
four years and lived a year in the Italian quarters on 
Hester Street. 

"The Italian of course brings to America all his native 



270 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

characteristics, good and bad. I must confess that I 
have seen very little of the bad. The thing that is bad 
which I w^ould fear were it not that I see it changing so 
rapidly is the absolute domination of the Italian laborer 
over his wife. At the same time it should be said that 
the Italian husband and father is in his way devoted to 
his family and suffers keenly their adversities. 

"Over against this, one must set (and it more than 
counterbalances the scales) an artistic instinct, a love of 
good music, and a sense of form and color, particularly 
the latter, the possession of an artistic ability not to be 
found even amongst similar groups of French immi- 
grants. 

"In addition the Italian brings a joy of living and a 
capacity to play and to throw ofif troubles with his play 
which is of no small part in relieving the stress of 
living in crowded quarters in New York. 

"Best of all even when he has not been naturalized (a 
thing to be said against the Italian) he has shown a 
capacity to assimilate himself into American life and an 
appreciation of democratic institutions and a loyalty 
equal to that of any foreign population." 

Henry Dwight Sedgwick writes : 

"The American of Italian extraction brings to our con- 
ception of democracy which in the main is a development 
of English tradition, the Latin conception of democracy 
which is bolder, more fundamental, more deeply affected 
by the doctrine i.e., an absence of all privilege than ours 
is and thereby gives to our more cautious and experi- 
mental conception a broader and more permanent basis." 

For one of the best all-around presentations of this 
type's influence upon our American life, we give at 
length the well executed contribution of Prof. James 
Geddes, Jr., of Boston University, viz : 

"What is the chief contribution that the American of 
Italian extraction makes to our American democracy? 
Stated in a single sentence the chief contribution at the 
present time of the American of Italian extraction to 
American democracy is the stimulus he gives to agricul- 
tural, industrial, scientific and cultural activities. 

"In the four centuries that have intervened between 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 271 

Columbus and Marconi, comparatively few Italians have 
played any conspicuous part, and this for the simple 
reason that Italian immigration is of very recent date. 
As late as 1850 there were fewer than 4000 immigrants 
from Italy in the whole United States. It is within the 
last quarter of a century particularly that a great change 
has come over the Italian people. They have begun to 
invent, to do farming in a modern way on a large scale, 
to manufacture, to engage in commerce and state affairsj 
and to cultivate the fine arts. More than 3000 Italians 
crossed the ocean in 1914 to visit the St. Louis Exposi- 
tion and do business with the United States. The stream 
of educated Italians has kept on coming ever since. 

"The impulse along agricultural lines may be felt in 
the many beautiful garden sections cultivated in this 
country by Italians, notably in Connecticut where they 
have made the rocky hills "blossom as the rose," and in 
Bryan, Texas, center of an ever-increasing and thrifty 
colony. In industrial activity it is well known that the 
founders of the extensive wine business in California 
are Italians. Along scientific lines the followers of Mar- 
coni, Ansaldo and Caproni are forging steadily ahead, 
and in cultural activities and the fine arts one has only 
to glance through the lists of names of those composing 
the personnel of artists, sculptors, actors, musicians and 
grand opera singers to realize the important role played 
by Italians in the world of art. 

"The influence of our Italian population in these and 
many other activities in our national life is undoubtedly 
very great. The innate prestige that attaches itself to 
Italy and to Rome is perpetual and enduring. Are not 
these Italians of our day the new type of the old Romans 
whose civilization in many ways has never been sur- 
passed and whose aims, ideals, and results offer an 
incentive to higher effort along many lines of activity? 
In striving to keep abreast of these ideals and results the 
Americans, in a measure subconsciously, are undergoing 
the influence of the rising generation of Italians born in 
this country. The latter are furnishing the former the 
strongest incentives to effort not only to achieve but to 
surpass all that has ever been accomplished in oi'der to 
obtain all that is most worth while. 



272 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

"From the earliest times the democratic spirit of the 
Italians has been manifest on the world through their 
tribunes — to go back to the Gracchi — and we have had 
right here in our Italian colony of Boston their worthy 
imitators both patrician and plebian. True democracy 
may be said to have begun with government by the 
people in the times of the Italian Republics when the 
arts and crafts, especially in Florence, figured so notably. 
And in our own day, just before the beginning of the 
present world war, was not il Re soldato called il Re 
democratico? 

"That the Italian people are democratic is shown right 
here among ourselves by the whole-hearted way they 
accept our ideal of democratic government. Those born 
in this country are emphatically loyal as shown by the 
fact that of all our volunteers for military service re- 
cently, the Italians made the highest record, with 70,000 
men, or twenty per cent of the total number. Moreover, 
this loyal democratic spirit is emphasized by their gen- 
erous contributions to the American Red Cross, by their 
extensive purchase of Liberty Bonds and war stamps, by 
their participation in the work in the munition factories 
and other government enterprises. It is this same popular 
democratic spirit that manifests itself in the effective 
propaganda carried on by means of continual patriotic 
meetings with speeches galore sufficient to galvanize 
the most lethargic, by flag raisings, by popular concerts, 
by the Italian Press, and the organization of the Italian 
Legion, all tending strongly to keep up the morale and 
deal a knockout blow to Teutonic kultur. 

"Our American-born Italians are descended from that 
land of liberty which gave to the world Columbus, Maz- 
zini, Garibaldi, and Cavour, knights of democracy and 
humanity. It may be said that their descendants in this 
country are in a general way exerting their greatest 
influence by popularizing arts identified largely with 
Italy: music, painting, and sculpture, embroidery and 
lace making in which the Italian women have always 
excelled, thus as it were, democratizing the fine art. 
Indeed of all the elements amalgamated together that 
are leavening our immense democratic lump, there is 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 273 

none whose flavor promises to be more highly appre- 
ciated than that inheritance within our own ranks which 
we have received from Italy." 

The last two replies we shall quote are eloquent and 
pithy though they look at the question from different 
and even unusual angles. Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones spent 
some years in investigating the home conditions of 
Americans of Italian extraction and incorporated in his 
excellent "Sociology of a New York City Block" the 
fruits of his labors. Dr. Jones \vho is now a "Specialist" 
in Education for the Department of the Interior has 
emphasized the psychological aspects of the contribu- 
tions that foreigners make to our American life per- 
haps better than anyone else. His answer in this in- 
stance as applied to the contribution of the Italian is : 

"The chief contribution of the American of Italian 
extraction to American democracy is the quality of 
devotion to democratic ideals represented by such ad- 
jectives as whole-hearted, whole-souled, ardent, fervent, 
enthusiastic." 

As a fitting conclusion we quote the simple but elo- 
quent statement of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise : 

"The chief contribution that the American of Italian 
extraction may make to our democracy is to remember 
that while his goal is AMERICA, his starting point is 
Italy ; that he is not to submerge his Italianism in 
America but to merge it with Americanism at its highest. 
He is to bring to America consciously and of purpose 
that Latin reverence for law which must underlie the 
democratic order." 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS— In attempting to 
get a representative consensus of definite opinions re- 
garding the specific contribution that the American of 
Italian blood makes to our American Democracy, the 
writer has not, as the results show, proved anything 
that was not heretofore pretty generally accepted, nor 
are the results which the symposium brings to light 
different from those which he expected. 

It is from a standpoint of classification that this 
attempt to array together the facts pertaining to the 
value of this type of American, is chiefly valuable. In 



274 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

the past it has been the custom when a writer dealt with 
social facts, particularly with facts relative to social 
pathology, to lay the blame for all "social maladjust- 
ments" upon the community ; this with a grip on actual 
conditions very attenuated at best. Today modern 
sociology seeks to treat social facts quantitively when 
ever possible and above all, in relation to the whole 
social system. The purpose of this symposium is to 
fasten on a concrete phase of the adjustment which 
Americans of Italian origin make to our community 
when associated with other Americans, and which appear 
as "gains," "losses," and "contributions." 

With this end in view considerable care was spent in 
drawing up lists of names of men and women whose 
experience has been of a character to justify placing con- 
fidence and trust in their replies. Because of the 
extremely varied way the American of Italian extraction 
touched our American life, it was obviously necessary to 
question people from all walks of life to get a fair con- 
sensus of views. 

The writer went carefully thru the membership files 
of the American Academy of Political Science, the 
American Sociological Society, the American Economic 
Association, and other representative organizations in 
order to secure a pick of only those individuals from 
whom an answer to the question "What does the Ameri- 
can of Italian extraction contribute to American demo- 
cracy?" would be valuable and could be considered as of 
sufficient weight to have any confidence imposed therein. 

Likewise in seeking replies for question number 1. 
"What does the American of Italian extraction gain," 
both extremes, the "tenement" type and "professional" 
types of Americans of Italian extraction were asked to 
give their views because of the desire to get opinions 
that were not one-sided. It was not at all unreasonable 
to assume that to each of these types of American, 
democracy might mean a distinct and altogether dif- 
ferent thing. 

The greatest difficulty was encountered in securing the 
average percentage of replies to question number 2, 
"What does the American of Italian extraction Jose, by 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 275 

his contact with American democracy?" The replies to 
this question showed a marked diversity of opinion 
regarding whether a "loss" obtained or no. Here again 
only those individuals were asked whose opinions would 
be valuable because of their complete saturation with 
the pure Italian culture. 

Not one of the least valuable elements of the sympo- 
sium is, therefore, the representative character of the 
leaders of thought who have contributed. Not only are all 
of the important professions represented but nearly 
every section of the country besides. The symposium's 
results are results that attest to the uniformity of opinion 
regarding this type that exists thruout the country as 
a whole. 

In getting up this symposium some may question the 
wisdom of permitting the three questions to be placed 
in one questionnaire. The reason for this feeling, it 
may be urged, is that it tends to affect the nature of the 
reply of the contributor and one would necessarily have 
a reaction alloyed by the influence of a previous antici- 
pation of what others would most likely answer to the 
other two questions. On the contrary the writer believes 
that the placing of the three questions on the one and 
same questionnaire gives it a value that otherwise would 
not obtain, namely of pointing out to each contributor 
the entire scheme or general plan of this study, which is 
to evaluate this type sociologically. Therefore, realiz- 
ing this, one is more apt to confine himself to the specific 
question to which he is replying instead of making 
qualifications, exceptions and other remarks that must 
necessarilv be irrelevant to the answer and consequently 
detract from its value. 

Some might even question the value of such a general 
question as "What does the American of Italian extrac- 
tion contribute to our American democracy?" In answer 
the following is pertinent. In judging a people's status 
by civilizatory stages whether mental, cultural, mate- 
rial, etc., one must take into consideration the relation 
of such peoples to the entire sociological stratum of 
the particular country in which those people happen at 
any particular moment to be placed. The thesis of this 



276 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

dissertation is that for all peoples of superior cultures 
the germinal potentialities are uniformly capable of a 
relatively like development. It would be ridiculous to 
attempt to pin down a contributor to a specific question 
like "What mental traits does the American of Italian 
extraction contribute to our American democracy be- 
cause (1) nine out of ten contributors would not know 
and (2) it would not help us in furthering the end aimed 
at in the symposium. We are trying to find out the 
relative values that these peoples have in our "social 
mixing." With the gradual passing of time, and with 
the slow and laborious accretion of those particular 
racial characteristics that we know the Italian race has 
to give us, the American people of to-morrow will be 
a different people. It is of no moment to say that at a 
certain date a certain per cent of the second generation of 
Americans of Italian extraction were found to be in such 
and such positions and betrayed a certain type of mind. 
It is absolutely certain that the Italian strain, as has 
been proved true of the earlier German and Irish strains, 
effects contacts, at first, that are not permanent but 
represent a temporary adjustment made by a people 
essentially in "transition." Rather therefore it is for 
us to ascertain the sociological significance of the Italian 
infiltration in our midst from a broad general perspec- 
tive, if we are to correctly gauge the trend and newer 
impulse that these people give to us. 

Stated in a word, the results of the symposium show 
that the chief contribution of the immigrant Italians are 
also those of his offspring representing the second gen- 
eration of Americans. The qualities of thrift and re- 
liability, dependability, steadiness, soberness of character, 
consistent labor, conscientious application to the daily 
tasks of life however simple, frugality, sobriety, patience 
— these are the outstanding contributions. Little if at 
all subordinate to these are the qualities of joviality, 
lightsomeness of heart, optimism, cheeriness, high fra- 
ternalship, sympathy, warmth, hospitality. All of these 
are equally marked. 

It is the Italian's geniality and romantic high-spirit- 
edness that brings out his artistic sensitiveness. The 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 277 

traits of musical appreciation, of sculpture, of the plas- 
tic arts, of love for the drama, of courtesy, of high- 
mindedness — these are all parts of his traditions. His 
love for beauty, his thoughtfulness when not operating 
under too severe economic pressure, his deferential 
demeanor are not assumed mannerisms. They are in- 
stinctive though they "slough off in an American envi- 
ronment." The Italian is emotionally rich. This is his 
great psychical contribution to American democracy. 

No one has yet invented any way of measuring this 
contribution. Stated in a phrase one may call it "a 
high ratio of variability." It makes him "artistic, 
dreamy, and full of ideals" while holding him down to 
the menial tasks of everyday living with a patience and 
docility that is all the more astounding because of the 
incongruity. 

As to his "LOSSES," they are his good manners, 
family ties and at the beginning a reverence for race 
and elders. The first two "losses" are peculiar to the 
Italian home ; the last is a condition that obtains among 
all first generations of Americans. 

If the American of Italian extraction has lost good 
manners he has been given by us in exchange a sense of 
individual freedom, a feeling of independence, which 
sometimes may need a bit of redirection; and most of all 
he has acquired a desire to better himself and together 
with this the possibilities for its realization. Some 
"losses" are to be expected. Everything being relative 
we need but to ask which in a scale of values is less 
important. 

Undoubtedly to the younger American of Italian ex- 
traction the biggest thing in life with him is his future. 
America is "par excellence" the land of the future. So 
that for the time being it may be true that some of these 
Americans of Italian blood whom we see growing up in 
our larger cities are certainly not Americans in the 
sense that we think of the ultimate American; nor are 
thev Italians for thev scorn and are scorned by the 
adult Italian. They represent a type in transition. 

The question "What does the American of Italian ex- 
traction gain through his contacts here" brought many 



278 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

interesting and perhaps unexpected replies. Fully fifty- 
two per cent of the replies stressed the element of the 
future, and the opportunity and actual possibility of see- 
ing materialize within their own lifetime and in their 
own specific life the benefits and advantages of a free 
America, of a more equal distribution of this world's 
goods, of better living conditions, of shorter working 
hours, etc. All of this carries with it, best of all, the de- 
velopment of a spirit of appreciation of the fact that one 
has been allowed to share in the work of developing 
America; that what he gets here is not as if it were a 
bone thrown to him, but a right which is a recognition 
of his share of the task accomplished and his absolute 
essentiality to the full and proper completion of said 
task. Therefore it is this sense of self-independence, of 
sturdy self-reliance, of the exhilarating pleasure of the 
struggle to achieve that marks the great gain as more 
than fifty per cent of the replies for this type of American 
show. 

Looked at from both ends, from the end of the newer 
American it appears from the symposium that America 
is allowing him a fair and just means in the way of 
opportunity to develop "a maximum number of socially 
acceptable original capacities maximally," and that on 
the other hand there is no question that these indivi- 
duals have a peculiar contribution to make to America 
and furthermore, what is important, they are making it. 

It is all too unfortunate that this "give and take" pro- 
cess or what in other words may be termed the "rate of 
synthetization" is not quantitatively measurable. But 
we have it established that so far as the original and 
native capacity of this type is concerned this proceeds 
on a par with that of other people. The only other 
factors that need to be considered and which in this 
connection may operate either as a help or a hindrance 
are social, not racial, and concern all stocks, so we do 
not dwell upon them here. Besides they are American. 
In closing this section we would do well to quote the 
observation of Miss Lillian Brandt made some years 
ago on the nature of the adjustment of these second 
generations of Americans in an American environment, 
viz: 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 279 

"Surely an unprejudiced scrutiny of the American 
type does not establish the conviction that there is 
nothing further to be desired. There are points at which 
we are susceptible of improvement, there are equalities 
of which we have only a faint trace for whose posses- 
sion we should be justified in making some sacrifice. 
The Italians have a delight in simple pleasures, an 
appreciation for other things than mere financial suc- 
cess, a sense of beauty, a kindliness and social grace 
which would not be wholly unendurable additions to our 
predominant traits. "f 

TABLE I 
REPLIES RECEIVED STATED IN PERCENTAGES 

Total number of questionnaires sent 1000 

Total number of replies received 397 

Per Cent 39.7 

Number of replies giving "positive" reaction 267 

Per Cent 26.7 

Number of replies giving "negative" reaction 29 

Per Cent ■ .029 

Number of replies giving "neutral" reaction 30 

Per Cent .03 

Number of replies received and unclassified* .71 

Per Cent .71 

TABLE II 
DISTRIBUTION OF REPLIES ACCORDING TO DESCENT 
OF CONTRIBUTOR 

■«-> m 

NATIONALITY ^1 c S 

" n! rt I- u 

4). 2 ^ (U D 

< i^ tt:!, < o 

Total number of questionaires sent 333 333 334 

Total number of replies received 118 124 155 

Per Cent 35.44 37.24 46.41 

Number of replies giving "positive" reaction 114 49 104 

Per Cent 34.24 14.71 31.14 

Number of replies giving "negative" reaction 23 6 

Per Cent 6.91 .02 

Number of replies givmg "neutral" reaction 1 29 

Per Cent • .03 8.71 — — 

Number of replies unclassified* 3 23 45 

Per Cent 01 6.91 13.52 

t Lillian Brandt, "A Transplanted Birthright or the Second 



280 



THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 



TABLE III 
REPLIES LISTED ACCORDING TO 
CONTRIBUTOR 

Residence 

Ann Harbor, Mich 

Binghamton, N. Y 

Boston, Mass , 

Boulder, Col 

Cambridge, Mass 

Camp Grant, 111 

Chicago, 111 

Elizabeth, N. J 

Intervale, N. H - 

Jersey City, N. J 

Manuet, N. Y 

Middletown, Conn 

Minneapolis, Minn 

Newark, N. J 

New Haven ,Conn 

New York City, N. Y. 

Manhattan 

Bronx 

Brooklyn 

Queens 

Richmond 

Mooseheart, 111 

Mt. Vernon, N. Y 

Philadelphia, Pa 

Plainfield, N. J 

Poughkeepsie, N. Y 

San Francisco, Cal 

St. Louis, Mis 

Trenton, N. J 

Troy, N. Y 

Washington, D. C 

Yonkers, N. Y 

Unclassified 

Total 



RESIDENCE OF 

Questions 
No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 



2 
2 

65 
8 

16 
3 
2 



3 

3 

3 

118 



43 

12 

19 

8 

6 



3 

23 
124 



5 
1 
7 
1 
3 
3 
1 

1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

56 



1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
8 
2 
45 
155 



Generationed Italians in an American Environment." Chari- 
ties 1904. 

* Unclassified — Returned by postman, lack of sufficient knowl- 
edge, absences due to the war, Americans of French extrac- 
tion, etc. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 281 

TABLE IV 

REPLIES LISTED ACCORDING TO VOCATION OR 

PROFESSIONS 

Questions 

No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 

Actor 3 — — 

Anthropologist — — 2 

Artist — 3 — 

Assemblyman 1 — — 

Author — — 4 

Banker — 4 — 

Borough President — — 1 

Business man 6 8 3 

Capitalist — — 3 

Clergyman 3 7 8 

Clerk 5 8 — 

College student 17 — 2 

Commissioner of education 2 — 1 

Congressman — — 1 

Dentist 2 — — 

Director, School of Social Economy — — 3 

Doctor 9 6 1 

Draughtsman 1 — — 

Economist 1 — 2 

Editor — 2 5 

Electrician 1 5 — 

Executive Secretary — — 6 

Governor — — 1 

Head worker (settlement) — — 6 

Journalist — 2 — 

Judge — — 2 

Lawyer 11 7 2 

Librarian 1 — 1 

Manufacturer — 3 — 

Mayor — — 1 

Mechanic 2 — — 

Municipal employee 1 — — 

Musician 6 6 — 

Painter — 1 — 

Pharmacist 4 — — 

Principal (school) 3 — 1 

Printer „ 3 — — 

Professor (economics) 1 — 3 

" (engineering) 1 — 1 

" (government) — — 1 

(law).. — — 1 

" (medicine) 1 — — 

" (philosophy) — — 1 

" (romance language) — 3 4 

" (sociology) — — ^ 



3 


8 


3 
1 
2 





_ 


4 


7 


1 


1 


1 


4 
4 

3 


12 


9 


3 


23 


45 


118 


124 


155 



282 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

Questions 
No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 

Poet — — 1 

Publicist — 2 3 

Rabbi — — 1 

Retired (business) — 1 — ■ 

Senator — — 2 

Social worker 6 5 6 

Sociologist — — 6 

Soldier 3 — — 

Specialist in education — — 2 

Statistician 1 — — 

Steamship agent — 3 — 

Stenographer 

Stock exchange broker 

Superintendent of education 

Teacher 

Teamster 

University president 

Y. M. C. A. Secretary 

Anonymous 

Unclassified 

Total 



TABLE V 

"GAINS" LISTED ACCORDING TO FREQUENCY 

Number of Percentage 
Nature of "gain" times noted of total 

Freedom (individual) 21 17.71 

Educational opportunity 16 13.56 

Economic and industrial opportunity 13 11.02 

General gain (all round development) 12 10,17 

Equality w^ith other races 9 7.62 

Self-reliance 6 5.09 

Higher standard of living 4 3.39 

Spirit of co-operation 4 3.39 

Respect for justice 4 3.39 

Ambition 3 2.55 

Development of personality 2 1.69 

Breadth of vision 2 1.69 

Loss of religious fetters 1 .18 

Loss of fear of government 1 .18 

Free speech 1 .18 

Neutral 1 .18 

Unclassified 3 2.55 

Total 118 100.0 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 28j 

TABLE VI 

"LOSSES" LISTED ACCORDING TO FREQUENCY 

Number of Percentage 
Nature of Reply times noted of total 

POSITIVE* 
Loss of "love for race, respect for elders, 

reverence for family" 17 13.6 

Loss of "Latin idealism" 12 9.7 

Loss of "artistic" inheritance 9 7.2 

Loss of "politeness, good manners, senti- 
mental qualities" 6 4.9 

Loss of "respect for church" 5 4.0 

NEGATIVE** 

No "loss" whatever 2Z 18.5 

NEUTRALf 

"Loss" oflFset by a "gain" 29 23.4 

UNCLASSIFIED 

Returned by postman, lack of sufficient 
knowledge, absences due to the war, 

French and Spanish citizens, etc 23 18.5 

TOTAL 124 100.0 

TABLE VII 

"CONTRIBUTIONS" LISTED ACCORDING TO FREQUENCY 

Number of Percentage 
Nature of "contribution" times noted of total 

Industriousness and thrift 28 18.07 

Love of beauty, music, aesthetic apprecia- 
tion, art sense 17 10.9 

Optimism, cheerfulness, buoyancy, joy of 

living, enthusiasm 11 7.0 

Devotion to ideals 7 4.6 

Physical labor 6 3.8 

Adaptability 5 3.2 

Love for liberty 5 3.2 

Courtesy, politeness, good manners, cul- 
ture and refinement 4 2.6 

Devotion to democratic ideals 4 2.6 

Devotion to family, race, and elders 3 1.9 

Ambition 2 1.3 

Self-reliance, self dependence 2 1.3 

Sociability 1 .15 

Honesty 1 .15 

General (all round contribution) 8 5.2 

Negative replies 6 3.8 

Unclassified 45 29 6 

TOTAL 155 100.0 

* Reply classed as "positive" if a "loss" is stated to exist. 

** Reply classed as "negative" — contributor believes no loss 
exists. 

t Reply classed as "neutral" — contributor states a "gain" to 
exist as well as a "loss." 



284 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XXVI 

SOME POSITIVE MEASURES OF REFORM 

HOW TO ECONOMICALLY PRESERVE THE HIGH PHY- 
SICAL POWERS OF THE RAW IMMIGRANT AND 
FACILITATE THE PROCESS OF SYNTHETIZATION 

ABOLITION OF "PADRONE" SYSTEM— As the 
symposium in an earlier chapter showed, one of the 
chief sources of vakie that the Italian immigrant has for 
us is "labor." He has contributed the brawn that has 
made possible the physical upbuilding of this nation and 
the creation of America's physical wealth. 

America however has been careless of this gift. The 
Italian Consul for Western Pennsylvania reported in one 
year over 500 deaths due to industrial accidents and as 
Dr. Stella has shown, the loss of life that is entirely pre- 
ventable is higher among these people than among any 
other of all the different races in America. 

In Italy the immigrant never experienced such a 
shocking waste of his offspring. Himself possessed of a 
robust constitution and rugged fund of health he passed 
on to his progeny substance and vitality of a like kind. 
The social system however that permits such hygienic 
conditions as is described by Dr. Stella, Dr. Guilfoy and 
others makes great inroads upon this native fund of 
health. In fact the very font itself is contaminated. For 
it is true that in this country conditions not very long 
ago permitted labor to be used for ten hours and even 
more a day.* Relative to this Dr. Stella says, "I must 
make mention of the effects of the extreme severity of 

* Apart from the item of occupational diseases incurred thru 
the slow wearing down of the human organism, there is the 
important question of industrial accidents. While it is true 
in America today fatalities arc few, only 2,337 out of 280,308 
mishaps resulting in loss of life, nevertheless as W. C. Fisher 
points out in his review of existing compensation laws in the 
United States. . . . "there are hundreds of thousands injured.... 
which causes a more or less serious impairment of productive 
power and earning capacity," (Vide Quarterly Journal of Eco- 
nomics, Vol, 30, p. 53,) 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 285 

the work undergone by these people and the frequency 
with which minors among the Italian elements of this 
city are found at unusually severe work which in many 
cases helps to explain the physical degeneration and 
joined with other factors of congestion brings on a 
heightened susceptibility to all kinds of diseases." 

An enlightened labor policy reinforced by adequate 
modern social legislation serving to ensure to these 
people and their descendants the fund of rugged health 
and vigorous constitution that is theirs thru generations 
of birthright will also in the long run rebound to Ameri- 
ca's good. Thus she will be taking care of these faithful 
and humble workers of the soil, mill, and factory. Be- 
sides America will be providing for the future against a 
paucity of labor supply so vitally necessary for main- 
taining the degree of efficiency and present high pace set 
by modern efficiency methods. 

In the past more than in the present the abominable 
"padrone" evil where the Italian himself was permitted 
to prey upon his fellow countryman proved perhaps the 
greatest source of mischief. Padrones today are not 
nearly as numerous as they were two decades ago. The 
same can be said of many immigrant bankers. These 
latter without any security whatever were the de- 
positories for all the little "savings" that thousands of 
Italian workers had slowly, laboriously and painfully 
earned and sedulously accumulated. These moneys in 
many cases represented all that stood between them and 
starvation. Roberts says that there were 1000 such 
banks and that there was sent to Europe thru such 
bankers, in 1908 alone, the year when the actions of such 
individuals were investigated by a state appointed com- 
mittee, the sum of $275,000,000. Besides this sum these 
immigrant bankers themselves retained on deposit 
$7,000,000 yearly. The New York Committee on Immi- 
gration found that 1.5 per cent of these foreign banks 
failed and that their liabilities were five per cent of the 
sums handled. Such bankers particularly in NeXv York 
City did a thriving business. This city also was the 
scene of several of the most spectacular failures of such 
banks; namely Cesare Conti, Cuneo, Patti, and many 



286 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

others. These individuals had thruout a long period of 
time built banks of apparently complete security. The 
failures involved thousands of Italian families and the 
sums mounted up to the millions. 

REGULATION AND CONTROL OF UNEMPLOY- 
MENT — A good deal of the physical malconditions found 
among the children of Italians are due to undernourish- 
ment and mal-nutrition. According to researches made 
by Dr. Stella it would seem that the reasons for the pre- 
valence of rickets among the children in Italian homes 
are the environmental conditions such as overcrowding 
and the congestion of the slums plus the absence of a 
proper diet. Innumerable investigations conducted 
among the Italians showed that Italians do not eat 
enough meat as compared to vegetables. As a conse- 
quence, their children have a higher percentage of 
rickets, a disease particularly due to mal-nutrition, than 
has any other racial stock in this city. But this physical 
condition has its antecedents rooted in an economic one. 
Even as late as 1916 the very large number of Italian 
families in New York City that were thrown near the 
verge of starvation by changed industrial conditions due 
to a change of administration is our best witness. 
When the Italian peasant first arrives his portion of 
cereal is three-quarters as large as England gives to her 
paupers, while his portion of meat is less than one-fifth. 
Work that is intermittent in character will not hasten 
the day when this menu will be changed and more meat 
eaten. 

Further review of the very close connection between 
undernourishment and the unemployment problem is 
unnecessary here. The last annual conference of the 
American Health Association held in Chicago was the 
occasion for a host of the leading medical men of this 
country and of Canada to tell, in minute detail, of the 
very close relation between unemployment and ill health. 
Abundant proof was given by the speakers at this con- 
ference to the fact "that mortality is in direct ratio to 
the wage rate ; that the disease-rate increases as wages 
decrease and diminishes as the pay envelope gets fuller. 
Higher wages means better diet, improved business, 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 287 

better medical care, prevention of disease, a more robust 
physique and a general improvement of the workers."* 
As the separate investigations conducted among isolated 
sections of the Italian quarters showed, the average 
yearly income of the Italian bread winner is between 
$600 and $1000. Dr. Royal Meeker who conducted the 
most recent investigation regarding the cost of living 
and retail prices of all necessities in communities in 
many parts of the country, says that the results of his 
inquiry "clearly show that for a really decent standard 
of living for a family of five, it is necessary to have at 
least $1,687 a year and perhaps not less than $1,800." In 
the case of the Italian it explains in part why the newer 
generation represents a more devitalized stock than 
does the older generation. 

It is necessary for Americans to face this problem of 
unemployment resolutely and fearlessly. Before the 
war broke out conditions had become so bad in the second 
year of tenure of the last administration that in New York 
City the specially appointed Mayor's Work Committee 
had to deliberately create work in the Italian quarters 
and elsewhere so that these people could on the pretense 
of doing something be given a small pittance enabling 
them to eke out a miserable existence. In 1916 just such 
a workshop was established at the Italian School on 
Hester and Elizabeth Streets. This school is the greatest 
organized center for welfare work among Italians down- 
town. The workshop temporarily created there afforded 
work for over four hundred such families and fully five 
thousand garments were made that were used to help 
make easier the burden of the poor. Providing steady 
and regular employment will obviate many difficulties. 

ELIMINATION OF DISEASE— Recent experiences 
have shown us how weak certain vital elements in our 
population are. The recent expansion of our army forced 
us for the first time to take a survey of the physical 
condition of the nation. The point in this is that this 
was a decision which had not been chosen but was forced 
upon us. With other countries this "laisser faire" period 

* Survey, December 21, 1918, p. 373-4. 



288 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

has already been passed. Italy today has more advanced 
and enlightened laws aiming to safeguard the health of 
the immigrant than any nation. Mrs. Kate Waller Bar- 
rett who was appointed a special agent by the Depart- 
ment of Labor to investigate conditions surrounding 
immigrant women on steamships says : 

"As the Italian Government has taken the lead among 
civilized nations in its legislation to protect immigrants, 
I was especially anxious to test the value of its law. 
Every ship touching an Italian port carries a Royal Com- 
missioner appointed by the government. The Commis- 
sioner is required to make an extended inspection of 
every part of the ship twice a day to test the food 
furnished and to examine the water as regards quality 
and quantity. 

"When a ship reaches the Italian port the Commis- 
sioner must personally see that the quarters and all the 
bedding in the steerage are cleaned and fumigated. If 
the captain does not cooperate with the Commissioner 
on touching at an Italian port the Commissioner may 
order the captain's arrest. In addition to the foregoing, 
the government requires a strict medical examination of 
any person desiring to purchase a steamship ticket. 

"Immigrant stations are maintained by the Italian 
government at the principal ports of Italy and no depart- 
ment of the government is better supported and con- 
sidered of more importance. 

"I found that the laws and regulations of the Italian 
government are rigidly and intelligently enforced and 
that the welfare and interest of immigrants is materially 
augmented by the presence of a Commissioner on a 
ship."* 

But the minute he lands here this solicitude relaxes 
upon the part of the keepers of his new home. These 
people crowd into the lower part of Manhattan Island 
which is congested with commerce and residences ; in 
addition there are in the county as a whole and in a 
large proportion in this congested part seventy-six per 
cent of the manufacturing population of the city, or 

* Report of Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett — Appendix Annual 
Report of the Commissioner General of Immigration, 1914. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 289 

forty-one per cent of such for the state. Congestion 
of this sort is a great underminer of health. 

One of the blessings of the war was the easing of the 
pressure of population in the slum districts by reason 
of the wholesale inductions of the youth of the nation 
in the military drafts. This was true not only in big cen- 
ters like New York, Chicago, and Boston in this country 
but elsewhere on the continent in Paris, Liverpool, etc. 
"It is said that the slums of London have disappeared; 
that in the incessant appeal for labor, enlistments, and 
conscription, the idlers and even the vicious have been 
swept into useful employment. The conclusion is in- 
evitable that if the same energy and spirit can be con- 
tinued after peace is restored and developed into con- 
struction and production, the entire level of living con- 
ditions will be raised above that of the past."* 

The military drafts upon the manhood of the nation 
have given us a chance to catch our breath and for a 
moment we were beginning to learn how to live. With 
rations pared of all superficialities, a minimum of lux- 
uries and non-essentials, assiduous cultivation of the 
virtues of thrift, abstention, and frugal but wholesome 
living we were unconsciously laying the foundation for 
a saner and simpler life which if continued would have 
swept away for all time many of the most glaring mon- 
strosities of city life such as gangsters, corrupt ward 
politicians, etc. In taking the American of the slums 
away from his perverting environment whether he be of 
Italian, Jewish, Polish or Irish parentage and putting 
him in contact with our splendid Americans from the 
middle west, far west and the Pacific coast — we gave 
him a chance to see what it really means to live — and 
what is more important, how to live. It is no exaggera- 
tion to say that a year in our military cantonments, for 
many of the Americans of Italian stock at any rate, 
was something in the nature of a year at a large cosmo- 
politan university. 

It is such a change as this — the mingling with Amer- 

* Economic Conditions, Government Finance etc., National 
City Bank — July-1918. 



290 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

icans of the middle West and other parts of the country 
that Dr. Jones thinks is the line of greatest development 
for the American of Italian extraction. He believes that 
"the greatest gain of the Italian thru contact with the 
American type, if he is fortunate to meet a sufficient 
number of Americans of the old New England or the 
present Middle West type, is the curbing of a tendency 
to impulsive thought and action and the increase of de- 
liberation as a habit of muscle and mind."** On the 
other hand Prof. Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr., of Har- 
vard, looking at this social mixing from its opposite as- 
pect, thinks that the Italian's joyous attitude toward 
life and spontaneity in living is a genial corrective of the 
rigors of the Puritan tradition contributed by New Eng- 
land. Essentially, then, the contact is a "give" and a 
"take" between the two peoples. 

We are beginning to realize that the newer immigra- 
tion has something of distinct value to add to our Ameri- 
can democracy. In the past much of the precious immi- 
grant heritage has been wasted. America has been a 
profligate. Systematic measures aiming to disseminate 
information relative to prevention of disease and vice on 
a broad scale are as yet but in their infancy. We need 
a national health survey. It would repay us to make an 
assay of the entire physical condition of our peoples to 
know exactly what racial predispositions toward certain 
diseases exist ; also what relative immunities obtain. 

RECREATION — One of the mal-social conditions 
that in the past and even today makes great inroads 
upon the raw physical potentialities of our Italian stock 
is the prevalence of resorts of "commercialized" vice. 
This is the canker that needs cutting at the very core if 
a permanent cure is to be effected. This condition ought 
to be faced resolutely and without flinching. Too often 
when the Americanized Italian meets this form of social 
degeneracy he looks upon it as a truly American insti- 
tution. 

The educator has taught us that many of our in- 

** Comment volunteered in answer to question 1, see ques- 
tionaire, p. 238. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 291 

stincts need to be redirected and healthy social aims sub- 
stituted, if we would not be hurried into moral and 
physical decadence. It is not enough to tell the Ameri- 
can of Italian extraction that resorts of commercial- 
ized vice, gambling dives, etc., are socially bad and un- 
American. An agency for positive good must be sub- 
stituted. More playgrounds and wider recreational fac- 
ilities are the means that are to transform this type of 
individual into a healthy American citizen with a whole- 
some body and wholesome mind. Action, plenty of it, 
for this vivacious people is necessary. Nor is it enough 
to give them these facilities and trust them to work out 
their salvation. Adequate, intelligent and sympathetic 
leadership is another prime essential. Greater use must 
be made of the people themselves in order to have them 
fully enter into this matter of conserving their man- 
hood. Sartorio suggests that "there should be in the 
large foreign colonies organized lectures, distribution of 
information, both in Italian and in English to explain 
and instruct in regard to American industry, laws, insti- 
tutions and morals."* 

Concrete suggestions that as yet remain to be worked 
out in proper relation to the particular health needs and 
economic status of these people are, the limitation of the 
working day, a minimum wage, prohibition of night- 
work, of tenement work for children and for women, 
the removal of the slum colonies, the erection of cheap 
homes in the suburbs, city planning with the segregation 
of factories, the founding of suburban industrial centers, 
etc. All these point out what lies in the future and pre- 
sent problems, the successful working out of which re- 
quire considerable time. 

SOCIALLY PREPARE FOR A MORE FRICTIONLESS 
MIXING 

DIFFERENT ATTITUDE OF MIND — Today, as in 
the past, how to prepare for a more "frictionless mix- 

* Sartorio, Henry C, — "Social and Religiovis Life of Italians 
in America" p 64. 



292 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

in§^" is pretty much of a "hit and miss" or "trial and er- 
ror" plan. When his due was not forthcoming it was 
assumed either that the American of Italian extraction 
was getting his deserts and was satisfied or that he was 
not prepared and did not complain. A permanent cure 
for this means getting at the heart of the trouble. The 
fundamental attitude of some people must be changed ; 
discrimination based upon differences of race should 
cease ; greater sympathy can come only with greater un- 
derstanding. Woods speaks of this need very effect- 
ively, viz : 

"One of the most serious obstacles that confronts the 
ambitious youth from the North and West end takes the 
form of certain racial dislikes felt by men of power in 
the city's business aflfairs . . . the Italians cannot be 
kept from entering a very wide range of occupations but 
their rise in their callings is often hindered by that cau- 
tion on the part of employers which is akin to prejudice 
. . . the waste of ability and genius is coming to be 
recognized as a dangerous form, a public profligacy."* 

Much of the past difficulty has been due to the fact 
that the Italian is cut off from any contact with the truly 
American element, but is ruled and governed, as Villari 
says, by a "horde of adventurers and camorristi who 
maintain the municipal distinctions and diversions, fac- 
tions and superstitions of his native village." 

We take time to quote one instance of the way this 
wrong attitude of mind operates to make for misunder- 
standing. At Barre, Vermont, are a group of very intel- 
ligent and educated Italian speaking workingmen. Man- 
gano says they speak and write French, German and 
Italian, have studied in the universities and technical 
schools to acquire their skill in design and execution and 
have much more learning than the average citizen of 
Barre. They could be made very helpful members of 
the community if the Americans and the Italians could 
only learn to understand one another. In fact it was 
the Italian element which made the first move to help 
themselves. They subscribed money enough to employ 
a teacher of drawing and designing for their children. 

♦Woods, Robert A. — "Americans in Process" p 373. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 293 

But the Americans abandoned one section of the town 
to them and would have nothing to do with them. Man- 
gano says that the Italian-speaking population resent 
the hostile attitude of these older Americans and so the 
split continues. 

EDUCATION — Some who have argued the merits of 
these Americans have based their conclusions upon a 
hasty acceptance of the position of this class in our pub- 
lic schools and upon the nature of the adjustment that 
these children of Italian parentage effect in our system 
of public education. The fallacy here consists in assum- 
ing that the system is absolutely correct and unequivo- 
cal subservience to the system not only is desired but 
actually demanded. 

In effect this is to have the children existing for the 
school and not the school for the children. Some people 
overlook the fact that school systems today exist largely 
for the abstract type of mind a type of mind that is fre- 
quently met with in the Americans of Jewish extraction. 
As Ayres has so well said, "in considering the different 
types of education to be given, the question of ho\v to 
handle a Dutch immigrant child is very different from 
that of how to treat an Italian."* The fact is overlooked 
that not infrequently the American of Italian extraction 
if he is not of that artistic type of mind which, when 
subjected to the inflexible regimen and circumscribing 
character of present academic procedure, works itself all 
awry and never does itself justice — he is just as apt to 
be of that industrially minded turn which likes to tinker 
about machines, lathes and work-benches. 

There is no attempt here at a reflective judgment with 
regard to the relative values of the abstract, artistic, and 
industrially minded. This simply portrays a condition 
and describes a fact, instancing concretely how planes 
of universal-human-potentiality are cut across and are 
dissected by lines of racial characteristics and individual 
differences. 

If as the educational psychologist assures us, the chief 
problem in our democracy is the preservation of the in- 

* Ayres, Leonard P.^ — "Laggards in Our City Schools" p 106, 



294 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

dividual variant in adjustment to organized effort, to the 
effect that it might protect, perfect, and pei'petuate it- 
self, and if to American publicists, in considering the 
matter of a people's assimilation and synthetization, the 
public school is the foundation stone in this whole pro- 
cess — in our big school systems in large cities w^here 
alone the second-generation of our immigrant classes is 
numerous enough to constitute a distinct unit and 
therefore a problem — we get some idea of how inaptly 
the whole thing is working out. 

We have the child of the immigrant, regardless of 
past inheritance, literally poured into an academic mould 
which effectively levels out the individual variant and 
leaves its stamp of uniformity. So mechanical is the 
process and so unyielding that in time we can hope for 
that most deadening and most stultifying of all uni- 
formity — mediocrity. It is true that heredity and en- 
vironment set the limits within which it is possible to 
progress but as equally true is it that the opportunity 
for variation within such limits is enormous. The indi- 
vidual variant must be kept free and allowed to expand 
and become "individuated," to use a sociological term. 

Considering the "high-variability" of the Italian na- 
ture, how much greater is the loss to this group, which 
inevitably results from this "cribbing, confining, and 
cabinning" process of our regimenal-mould schools ; and 
how disastrous to the growing and plastic nature of any 
child! 

In speaking of the waste of talent that this system 
entails with respect to the Italian, Miss Brandt says "the 
chief responsibility for the waste of this aptitude of ar- 
tistic handicraft possessed by the Italians rests not with 
the parent's avarice nor on race prejudice but in Am.eri- 
can educational systems and our own failure to appre- 
ciate what we are throwing away. We must first of all, 
if we are to accept and use to our own advantage the 
gifts which the Italian brings, educate ourselves into an 
appreciation of those gifts."* In suggesting a remedy 

* Brandt, Lillian — "A Transplanted Birthright or the Sec- 
ond-generationed Italians in an American Environment." Char- 
ities 1904. Vol. 12, p 499, 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 295 

Woods says "the new generation is in many cases hin- 
dered by the ignnorant superstitions of the elders. One 
way of breaking the unfortunate tradition of ilHteracy 
which exists particularly among the recent Italians and 
which leads them to put their children to work as soon 
as possible would be to provide in the public schools 
greatly increased opportunities for manual and technical 
training along with book work. The tendency of par- 
ents to take their children away from the schools is in 
part a just judgment upon the narrow and abstract char- 
acter of the school curriculum." Jane Addams depre- 
cates severely this same attitude saying 

"many people . . . have become impatient with the 
slow recognition on the part of educators of their mani- 
fest obligation to prepare and nourish the child and the 
citizen for social relations. The democratic ideal de- 
mands of the school that it shall give the child's own 
experience a social value ; that it shall teach him to direct 
his own activities and adjust them to other people. 
"We are impatient with the schools which lay all stress 
on reading and writing suspecting them to rest on the 
assumption that the ordinary experiences of life are 
worth little and that all knowledge and interest must be 
brought to the child through the medium of books. This 
may be best illustrated by observations made in a large 
Italian colony situated in Chicago, the children of which 
are for the most part sent to the public schools. 
"The members of the Italian colony are largely from 
South Italy- Calabrian, Sicilian peasants or Neapolitans 
from the workingmens' quarters of that city .... 
Their experiences have been those of simple out-door 
activity and their ideas have come directly to them from 
their struggle with nature. The women have had more 
diversified activities than the men. They have cooked, 
spun, and knitted in addition to their almost equal work 
in the fields. They are devoted to their children, strong 
in their family feeling, and clannish in their community 
work. 

"The child of such a family receives constant stimulus 
of a most exciting sort from his city street life but he 
has little or no opportunity to use his energies construc- 
tively in any direction. No activity is supplied to take 
the place of that which in Italy he would naturally have 
found in his own surroundings and no new union with 
wholesome American life is made for him. 
"Italian parents count upon the fact that their children 
learn the English language and American customs be- 



296 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

fore they do themselves and the children to act as in- 
terpreters . . . resulting in a certain almost pathetic 
dependence of the family upon the child. When an Ital- 
ian child first goes to school the event is fraught with 
much significance for all the others. 

"Yet the first thing that the boy must do when he reaches 
school is to sit still and he must learn to listen to all 
that is said to him . . . He does not find this very 
stimulating and is slow to respond to the more subtle 
incentives of the school-room. The Italian peasant 
child is perfectly indifferent to showing off and making 
a good recitation. He leaves all that to his schoolfel- 
lows who are more sophisticated and equipped with bet- 
ter English. His parents are not deeply interested in 
keeping him in school. 

"It is much easier to go over the old paths of education 
with "manual training" thrown in, as it were. It is 
much simpler to appeal to the old ambitions of "getting 
on in life" or of "preparing for a profession" 
than to work out new methods on democratic lines. 
There is a pitiful failure to recognize the situation in 
which the majority of working people are placed."* 
Miss Addams believes that the Italian has "affections 
and memories" that we leave untouched and which 
would afford a source of tremendous dynamic power if 
utilized. She would have us stress more the real ex- 
periences thru which these people daily pass in their go- 
ing about and executing the common things of life. Miss 
Scudder's observations point to the same conclusions 
namely that (1) an effort to broaden experience should 
be made so that appreciation may become more general 
for the Italian child, and (2) a better correlation of stud- 
ies should be effected in matters more directly suited to 
his practical needs.** 

When to such peoples in general, and to the Ameri- 
can of Italian extraction in particular, is extended the 
option of continuing in school — they are almost unan- 
imous in their negations with respect to further formal 
study. Dr. Van Denburg who found such a condition 
to be true explained this to be the reason why so many 
students of Italian origin, are early eliminated in the 
High Schools of New York City. 

* Addams, Jane — Democracy and Social Ethics, p 178 seq. 
** Scudder — Suggestions on Methods of Work and the 
Course of Study for the Italian Child. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 297 

Add the fact that there is lacking to that element that 
comes to us from Italy, any culture tradition or gener- 
ation of educated minds and one has all the items for 
working out a statistical coefficient for this condition of 
early elimination and retardation of Italian students. 

The attempt to get at and remedy the present imper- 
fect state of educational affairs is of recent origin. Gary 
plans, industrial, vocational, and pre-vocational schools, 
play and study schools, the new Junior high-school 
movement all are a direct play for the more adequate 
recognition and organized catering to individual differ- 
ences. 

A new note in modern educational administration is 
sounded by Dr. Kandel when he points out the fact that 
the United States alone is the only power of importance 
that lacks an authoritative ministry of education. "A 
strong centralized agency charged with coordinating and 
establishing standards for different types of minds in the 
various communities is lacking If some such aid were 
to be given to the detached local administrative units af- 
fording them the advantage of a perspective that other- 
wise is unobtainable because of their proximity to an 
intense and what is apt to be a narrow field, this matter 
of having socialized and industrialized education looms 
up as a possible reality.* 

"Socialized education" following from the above will 
do mbre than any other one thing towards "sloughing 
off" class lines and make a saner and more balanced at- 
titude between social classes possible. And in the wake 
of this kind of a reawakening alone, can and will fol- 
low that other great desideratum — the passing away of 
the slums and the problem of congestion with its train 
of consequent evils. The remedy is slow to catch up 

* Kandel, I. L., New Republic — June 29, 1918 (Since this 
writing a bill has been introduced into the Senate and the 
House creating a Department of Education with a Secretary 
of Education and appropriating money for educational work 
in cooperation with the States. This bill has the support of 
the National Educational Association and the American Fed- 
eration of Labor. The bill authorizes an appropriation of 
$100,000,000. See Popular Scientific Monthly, March 1919, p 286, 



298 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

with the evil. Parks, recreational systems, playgrounds, 
settlements are all too pitifully inadequate when com- 
pared to the needs of the situation. This type of Ameri- 
can of Italian extraction, Jewish-American, Irish-Amer- 
ican, Bohemian-American, etc., will suffer a long time 
yet to come. 

POLITICALLY DISTRIBUTE A GREATER SHARE 
OF EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TO SUCH OF THOSE 
AS ARE FIT. Finally there is the problem of redistri- 
buting with an eye to greater effectiveness the political 
privileges with administrative and legislative powers in- 
to the hands of those who are fit. They in turn could 
then be allowed to use such power to quicken, deepen, 
and intensify their class's Americanism, civic loyalty, 
and community appreciation. 

The immigrant Italian is apt to view with suspicion 
any first hand attempt of one whose name is Jones or 
Smith to approach him on political and civic matters. 
When he came here he was told that he was coming to 
a free country ; where even the newsboy had a chance 
to become President and laborers become millionaires ; 
that voting was a matter of personal conscience ; that a 
minimization of control or check on personal liberty ob- 
tained and that democracy (whatever that may have 
meant to him) was the order of the day. Instead he came 
here and had his chances for the Presidency speedily dis- 
sipated; his ideas regarding a free country quickly dis- 
pelled; gold was hard to get and did not line the street 
pavements ; voting he found to be one of the farthest 
things yet removed from the individual's conscience ; 
machines ruled, bosses dictated, corruption flourished, 
justice did and did not work — leaving him more con- 
fused than ever — and that the government here ap- 
peared to be more restrictive than in his "homeland." 

As Sartorio says "the statement of an Italian carries 
more weight than that of ten Americans put together 
for obvious reasons."* 

It requires an American of his own race to set him 

* Sartorio, Henry C, Social and Religious Life of Italians in 
America p 43. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 299 

right and show him how to pick the wheat from the 
chaff; how not to discard the whole because of a part 
either being bad or not as represented. Many Ameri- 
cans of Italian extraction by their readings and discus- 
sions on political topics show a healthy orientation 
to our American society that means much for America. 
They point the way for all Americans of all extractions 
to follow. Such individuals are absolutely invaluable 
in helping to make an adjustment between the older 
generations and their communities. They are an indis- 
pensible link in a long chain of links, tied to a policy the 
fruition of which means the development of a true Amer- 
icanism. Sartorio suggests that "at a slight expense 
young Italian-Americans could, in a short time, be 
trained in American schools to be excellent and trained 
workers among their own people." 

To such as these, growing up and demonstrating their 
fitness as vehicles or channels along which the spirit of 
American democracy may be transferred greater recog- 
nition and power should be given. Instead, not uncom- 
monly both political and social preferment is denied, and 
the only reason, very often, is that such person's name 
ends with a vowel. 

Instead of sending these "prepared" individuals out as 
propagandists among the masses of their own people ; 
instead of attempting to create and cement a national 
solidarity and "esprit de corps" thru systematic civic 
and citizenship training groups and classes in extension 
and night-school centers — there is an untrue American- 
ism rampant that counts the social and political adher- 
ence of this class secure if individuals within its ranks 
are willing to accept two dollars for a vote once a year. 
Frequently community spirit instead of being broad and 
national is sectional and crabbed thru the ingrowing 
character of some institutions so abnormal as to be be- 
yond the pale of truly American stimuli. 

The Italian of his own accord rarely gets the hang of 
the whole thing. The American of Italian extraction 
breaks with this and gets away, but for the tenement 
type often the get-away is very much in the nature of 



300 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

an escape from the frying pan into the fire. He may be 
free but he is apt to be directionless and consequently 
erratic. Freedom from tradition and custom means also 
exposure to perversions. 

Consequently instead of experiencing loyalty to the 
community which gives him birth this individual is all 
too ready to blot it out of existence. But should Amer- 
ica clothe him with the real possibility and responsibility 
of remaking the old, in the added light gained from his 
experience, he would undertake and put thru the task 
in and with pretty much the same spirit as did Hercules 
in his fabulously reported cleansing of the Augean 
stables, and with the same ultimate thoroughness in re- 
sult that we suspect in the above. 

America's hope, if not her only hope, in the quickest 
reclamation of the large immigrant colonies of her land 
to-day, consists in grappling to her soul and interest the 
offspring of these peoples and using them as tools for 
the accomplishments of her ends. And to these peoples 
the task will be as much one of pleasure as an obliga- 
tion — for, it having been given to them to see light, they 
will not be found lacking in that spirit which seeks to 
disseminate light. 

If Democracy means anything it means "growth." 
Such "growth" is imperfect unless it brings with it the 
duty to develop our material, social, and spiritual forces 
to the full. It can scarcely be said that our present pol- 
itical institutions as they stand and function today ful- 
fill this requirement. How can this be changed? One 
way would be to bring home to the new-comers the 
realization that citizenship entails obligations as well 
as rights. Prof. Wright feels that such existing evils 
might be remedied or minimized by a greater attention 
to the fact that so many within our midst are new- 
comers ; furthermore that the various efforts in the past 
to adjust these people into our institutions were based 
upon notions that were not altogether sound. He sug- 
gests the following: 

(a) the elimination of mentally subnormal voters by 
appropriate psychological tests. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 301 

(b) basing registration for elections on the voter's 
knowledge of the issues of candidacies involved. 

(c) requiring both naturalized and native citizens to 
undergo preliminary training for the initial use 
of the ballot. 

(d) periodically the whole social and economic 
structure of the governmental area should be 
examined, and the standard and desires of people 
ascertained. 

"Too often," says Sartorio, "the immigrant is made to 
feel how great are the material advantages in store for 
him in becoming an American citizen and thus is trained 
to enter American public and political life in a mercen- 
ary spirit."* Unquestionably this method is wrong. 
Sartorio's experience in becoming naturalized is the 
common experience. His application for naturalization 
papers brought a circular letter exhorting him in four 
different places "to become a citizen and to learn the 
English language in order to get a better job." He adds 
"the letter contains not a single appeal to the higher 
motives, not a reference to the duties and responsibili- 
ties of American citizenship.** A letter of this kind is 
symbolic of a method that demoralizes. The proper 
method would be to point out the higher aspects or 
what Sartorio calls the "altruistic" side of American 
citizenship and call attention to the duties it brings in 
sharing the responsibilities of American life. 

The combined results of this and other methods men- 
tioned earlier would be as follows : first, we would af- 
ford a demonstration to the outsider in general and to 
the newcomer in particular that the era of "laisser- 
faire" in naturalization is over; second, we would give 
patent proof that knowledge not race counts, and that 
we are started in the direction of placing in the hands 
of those who have demonstrated their fitness real re- 
sponsibility for governmental control ; third, and most 
important, here at least, an increasing share of atten- 
tion would be given to our changing body-politic so that, 
as the shifting immigrant hordes and their descendants 

* Sartorio, page 65. ** ibid p 66. 



302 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

are shunted into place and become adjusted — their as- 
pirations can be more easily ascertained and attention 
accorded them always with an eye to preserving and 
perpetuating the individual racial variant that the time 
test has shown will further and not retard our Ameri- 
can democracy. It has remained for an American of 
German descent to most clearly point out the value of 
retaining a receptive mind to all our immigrants and 
permitting them to share in the widest way possible and 
to the utmost in the responsibilities of this government. 
He points out that 

"No nation ever had a more wonderful opportunity than 
we have of becoming rich and varied in the manifesta- 
tions of its higher life. First of all we are among, the 
great nations, the last comer in history. We have thus 
fallen heir to the accumulated experience of the whole 
world. Further we have among us millions of represen- 
tatives of all the great nations of Europe ; lastly our 
American temperament is rapidly growing more plastic 
to new suggestions. 

"As the Anglo-Saxon ideal so powerfully working thru 
the school, the pulpit, the press, and our political insti- 
tutions, is sure always to furnish the necessary element 
of stability and cohesion, we can fully afford to be hos- 
pitable to many varieties of traditions and temperaments. 
An opposite course so far from building up a better 
American might easily lead to comparative impoverish- 
ments. Every American of foreign descent feels that 
his own interests and those of his children lie in Amer- 
ica. His gaze is forward to the America of his future 
and not backward to the Europe of his past. 
"If the American people as a whole were to become 
musical as the Teutons or the Slavs, sensitive to color 
and line as the Italians, if they develop a deference for 
language like the French, without losing the Anglo- 
Saxon straight-forwardness, political sense and self-con- 
trol, then the America of the future would correspond 
to that future which consciously or unconsciously even 
the severest Anglo-Saxon New Englander is cherishing 
in his heart."* 

_ It is this "give and take" that facilitates the synthe- 
tizing process which has for its aim the evolving of a 

* Camillo von Klenze — To what extent would America profit 
by suppressing the natural traditions of its hyphenated citi- 
zens? "Problems and Lessons of the War." Addresses, Clark 
University studies. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 303 

stable American type. What that ultimate type is to be 
like, one must be brave to venture a judgment. But one 
well-known leader of American educational and political 
thinking has ventured to describe him, viz : 

"The typical American is he who whether rich or poor, 
whether dwelling in North, South, East or West, whether 
scholar, professor, man merchant, manufacturer, farmer, 
or skilled worker for wages, lives the life of a good 
citizen and a good neighbor; who believes loyally and 
with all his heart in his country's institutions, in the un- 
derlying principles on which these institutions are built; 
who directs both his private and his public life by sound 
principles ; who cherishes high ideals ; and who aims to 
train his children for a useful life and for their coun- 
try's service."** 

** Butler, Nicholas. Murray— "The American as He is." p 97. 



304 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

CONCLUSIONS 
GENERAL 

1 — This is a study in AMERICANISM, because the 
people under surveillance are AMERICANS. 

2 — This is not a study in immigration but rather an in- 
quiry into the "rate of synthetization" going on to- 
day among America's composite racial stocks, looked 
at from the sociological standpoint of one of these 
stocks, i. e. the Italian. In this study no ques- 
tion is raised as to whether the immigrant is 
an asset or a liability; no examination of immigrant 
institutions is attempted; no discursion is made into 
any field of immigrant activity, organization, etc., 
excepting as these bear inextricably upon the hered- 
itary physical inheritances of the type under inves- 
tigation. 

3 — No ultimate definition of either "Americanism" or 
of "Democracy" is attempted here. 

A — It is asserted that the methodology for defining 
"Americanism" and "Democracy" looked at from 
their ethnico-sociological aspects must be thru (a) 
on the one hand the detailed diagnosis of the "hu- 
man-nature-stufif" involved in such types of indi- 
viduals whom we have in this study labelled "Amer- 
icans of Italian extraction" (psychological) together 
with similar studies of Americans of Jewish extrac- 
tion, of Irish extraction, of Russian extraction etc. ; 
(b) on the other hand the survey, classification and 
categorization of the different types of institutions 
and other tangible phenomena (sociological) that 
are the products of the above "human-nature-stufT" 
in the different social and economic stratifications 
into which at many places, as all indications point, 
our second generation of Americans of all extrac- 
tions is beginning to ramify; (c) the synthesis of 
such detailed studies as relate to and affect the 
evolving of types of mind and forms of social organ- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 305 

ization that we can label as being distinctly Ameri- 
can — all of this indicating a sifting process that 
involves considerable time. 

5 — Racial characteristics are not necessarily indices of 
inferiority or superiority. 

6 — Following from this is a strongly indicated proba- 
bility that almost every time one can point to a 
defection among second generation of Americans as 
a class whether they be Americans of Italian ex- 
traction, of Jewish extraction, of Polish extraction, 
etc., he is apt to be scoring an indictment against 
this country and its institutions. So that the more 
one can legitimately take stock in the observations, 
experiments and laboratory findings of the scholars 
of the world, supplemented by the conclusions of 
social workers and those in close touch with prac- 
tical conditions among a new people in our environ- 
ment — the greater is the accumulation of guilt on 
the part of an unseeing and consequently non-pro- 
viding community that suffers congestion, slums and 
controllable forms of vice to exist. 

SPECIFIC 

1 — There is no such thing as an Italian problem in 
America in speaking of the type under discussion 
here. Calling this an Italian problem is a misnomer. 
These Americans of Italian extraction are Ameri- 
cans first and last, tho in some cases a sub-normal 
type of American. 

2 — The American of Italian extraction in New York 
City represents a "transitional" type of American. 
Of a total 406,805 such persons residing here 81 per 
cent are below twenty-one years of age pointing to 
the immature stage at which we find them. This 
explains the high percentages of 7.8 and 72.7 for 
these people found respectively in the kindergarten, 
primary and grammar grades. As yet they have not 
become adjusted to our social, economic and politi- 
cal life. 

3 — There is no way of telling what one or more partic- 



306 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

ular occupations the American element of our Ital- 
ian speaking population is most favorably disposed 
towards. The only certain thing is that they will 
not make up the back-bone of our "muscle and 
brawn" population as was true of the parent. If 
both Italy and America alike bar migration the day 
of Italian "manovrali" is over. 

A — Indications point out that in matters of language, 
citizenship, religion and in all forms of social wel- 
fare and philanthropy the Italian strain is in no way 
so different "per se" as to be distingtiished in pre- 
senting any greatly different problem when com- 
pared with other stocks in New York City. 

5 — The American of Italian origin is "persona grata" 
because of his sociable qualities and light-hearted- 
ness. This makes him quickly and easily assimilable 
and mixed marriages can be readily looked for in 
the future particularly with the Irish and German 
elements. 

6 — Disease has taken a higher toll from the Italian than 
from any other racial stock in New York City due 
chiefly to ignorance and the extreme contrast pre- 
sented in the passage, within the same generation, 
from an active out-door life in an almost ideal clim- 
ate, to one of confinement, squalor, of inadequate 
sanitation, of frequent overwork and improper food 
diet. Within the last ten years in New York City 
alone, rickets, tuberculosis and diptheria have taken 
such a heavy toll that the Italian strain, with respect 
to these diseases, seems to have acquired what a- 
mounts to a heightened susceptibility. 

7 — The generally "social and cooperative" or "friendly" 
nature of the Italian type is shown by the way he 
flocks into the memberships of the numerous social 
organizations which he has organized. The Italian 
colonies in New York City are to be noted for the 
frequency of such groups. 

8 — Leadership and initiative are readily discernible items 
to any discriminating eye and are shown to be a qual- 
ity of this type as they are of other r3.ces of superior 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 307 

culture. Most of the groupings of the educated 
Americans of Italian extraction show these qualities 
and particularly is this noticeable in the social, civic, 
and educational welfare groupings. 
9 — Tho yet too early to judge adequately there seems 
to be no great inheritance of artistic temperament 
among the Americans of Italian origin in New York 
City coming forth to-day, as a thing "en masse." 
What does seem to exist among the children of this 
strain in the New York City public schools is a 
greater tendency towards manual and industrial 
arts and allied forms of artistic handicrafts. While 
to such tendencies the general academic program is 
narrow and cribbing, nevertheless the mental traits 
for this element as a whole are not different enough 
to warrant a special curriculum for them. 

10 — The Italian temperament is distinctive in that it 
registers high and low changes quickly. The con- 
vivial temperament of the Italian race allows for a 
large modicum of imagination, high emotion and in- 
tensity of feeling. 

11 — Italians here have added to this country's wealth 
most distinctively by virtue of the inherent traits of 
industry and thrift that characterize their race. In 
New York City nearly 85% of the adult Italian pop- 
ulation are employed in our industries. Eighteen 
percent of the contributors to the symposium in an 
earlier chapter declared these traits to be his chief 
contribution. This was the highest percentage of 
any of the contributions listed. 

12 — The Italian strain is adding most distinctively to-day 
to our national psychology the qualities of buoy- 
ancy, cheerfulness, good fellowship and adaptability. 
Contributors to the symposium above noted pointed 
this out next to his industry and thrift, as his chief 
distinguishing trait. 

13 — An "artistic" inheritance, esthetic appreciation, love 
for music, etc., are items which future generations 
may hope for because of the infiltration of the Ital- 
ian element into our midst, and its rate of realiza- 



308 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

tion may be almost said to vary directly with their 
economic uplift. 

14 — Stated in a word — while the Italian strain contri- 
butes "industry and thrift" it "loses" or rather has 
temporarily submerged part of its artistic and es- 
thetic inheritance and "gains" in return for this per- 
sonal freedom, educational and economic advance- 
ment and an opportunity for an unrestricted expres- 
sion of self thru the development of individual per- 
sonality. 

15 — Both extensive and intensive observation and ex- 
perimentation with groups of Americans of Italian 
extraction substantiate the finding that the inherent 
qualities, the innate germinal potentialities of all 
peoples of superior cultures, which includes the Ital- 
ian, tending to uniformity make for an equalization 
of product. When such is not the case one has but 
to look for some inner and hidden perverting cause 
in the social organization, educational system or 
economic or political conditions. Apparently the 
American of Italian extraction has been subjected 
to a disproportionately great amount of such dis- 
turbing influences, due chiefly to his ignorance of 
the language, lack of generations of trained minds 
behind him, an inordinate pressure sustained in mak- 
ing a living, etc., and so as with other second gen- 
erations of Americans of Jewish, German, Polish 
and Bohemian stocks, his product has been curtailed. 
That this above has been the case rather than that 
the racial character can be impugned is demon- 
strated by the fact that all perversions noticed among 
Italians in New York City can be duplicated among 
the Jews, Greeks, Bohemians, Russians, etc., today 
and was once as equally true among the Germans 
and the Irish in their earlier days of colonization 
here ; that when a group was selected and operated 
upon, with respect to chosen social, educational, 
moral and finally economic stimili, the consequent 
reactions were fully on a par with those of any 
other group of like grade and selection. 

16 — Inasmuch as racial characteristics are not neces- 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 309 

sarily indicative of inferiority or superiority, the ex- 
cessive emotialism, effervescence and demonstra- 
tiveness (physical) of the Italian are not necessarily 
signs .of inferiority or marks of lower mentality 
An Italian while more prone to color and gesticula- 
tion, does not reason any the less for this but may 
have as active a mind as the more phlegmatic Ger- 
man or restrained Englishman ; that probably it is 
as difficult for the German to disrupt his composure 
as it is for the Italian to maintain serenity. Racial 
characteristics are not necessarily true indices of 
"controlled and reasoned out" reactions and cer- 
tainly do not present the whole of the "coefficient" 
that makes for a relationship. While 85 percent of 
the Italian speaking people of New York City were 
classed as belonging to an ideo-emotional type* as 
compared to the 2.5 percent representing the criti- 
cal-intellectual this is a proportion not different 
from the general run of mental modes for the en- 
tire population of the United States as was found by 
Professor Giddings.** 
17 — Finally comes the most hopeful conclusion of all 
based upon a comparison between extreme types of 
Americans of Italian extraction that have gone be- 
fore and those that are with us to-day. Years ago 
a "tenement" type of American of Italian extrac- 
tion existed which organized itself into lawless 
bands of corrupt youths, infesting the tenement dis- 
tricts, terrorizing police and private citizens alike 
and composing a community within a community 
that set up its own law in defiance of the legalized 
guardians of the peace and public safety. The Amer- 
ican of Italian extraction was as numerous, if he 
was not more numerous than any other group or 
portion of this petty brigand or thug class. The 
"Five Points" gang was composed entirely of Ital- 
ians, as was Jack Sirocco's gang. The Gophers, 
The Red Onion gang of South Brooklyn, Monk 
Eastman's gang, containing fifty percent of Ameri- 

*See page 117, supra. 

** Giddings, Franklin, Inductive Sociology, p. 285. 



310 THE ITALIAN CONTRIBUTION 

cans of Italian blood, all testifying to a once preva- 
lent type of American that is fast disappearing, if 
not entirely gone. One needs to go into the Italian 
sections to-day in this city to see how radical has 
been the redirection afforded the pent-up energies 
of this vivacious type. The other extreme, the pro- 
fessional type, is also well worth noting. Judge 
John J. Freschi says that in 1890 there were but two 
Italian speaking lawyers and seventeen physicians 
in New York City. To-day Americans of this type 
in professional work number thousands. Thanks to 
the "high" potentiality" of the race, many a street 
cleaner's son, as well as offspring of boot-black and 
rag-picker, has become either a lawyer, a doctor or 
a teacher. Changing American conditions and at- 
titudes too must not be overlooked. These have 
played a big part that is not to be underestimated. 
They have made possible the tremendous increase 
of opportunities. What is hoped for is that in view 
of the showing made by this contrast of extremes, 
the opinion will universally prevail, that the profits 
and reward accruing to America is commensurate 
with the degree of readiness she displays in both 
materially and spiritually recognizing these Ameri- 
cans of Italian parentage to be as much her kith 
and kin as those who can boast of Puritan ancestry; 
and that her good in this respect is circumscribed 
only by her unwillingness to help herself. As the 
dean of Italian speaking doctors in New York City 
says : 

"It can easily be seen that sickness, vice, and 
delinquency which is so deplorable in the sec- 
ond generation is not due to the innate deprav- 
ity of the people, but to the environment in 
which they are forced to live. These are only 
passing evils of one generation which is pro- 
gressing, and the inevitable disadvantages of 
a people that is trying to adapt itself to a new 
home. They represent a state of transition but 
still we must not despair."* 
♦Stella, Dr. Antonio — "Eflfetti dell' Urbanismo etc." p 91. 



TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 311 

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TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 317 

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